Secret Weapon
by cutesmasher.with.swag
Summary: Natsume finds an unconscious girl after doing his mission. He takes him to Alice Academy, just to find out she's also an Alice. There's more to the story than just finding a regular girl, since this girl is a weapon. Unfortunately, she forgot she was. RxR
1. Chapter 1

**hi, it`s me again with a new story. :D I hope you all like this. I promise you an interesting plot til the end. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don`t o****wn Gakuen Alice. :c**

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><p><span>CHAPTER ONE.<span>

Natsume Hyuuga, the Black Cat, has the Alice of Fire. The Academy sends its most powerful students into secret missions for their own privilege. The Black Cat is feared by many who know his existence. He always gets the mission done. Despite his fearsome brigade, many do not know that under that mask lies a fifteen year old boy.

_How pathetic._ Natsume often thinks. _Scaredy cats._

Currently, the Black Cat is sitting in the Elementary School Principal`s office, waiting for the next order. He is usually sent out to secret missions that would benefit the school. Persona entered the room with a smirk on his face.

"I have your next mission." Persona said in his usual creepy voice. "It seems that part of the Z organization is forming in a warehouse near the pier. I need you to burn them all to a crisp. Apparently, they`re talking about some new secret weapon. Take that weapon and bring it here."

"Piece of cake." Natsume said as he went to accomplish his mission.

Persona doesn`t help him with the missions but he comes with Natsume just to make sure he doesn`t escape. He well knows that Natsume plans on running off. He would never allow his most prized possession to get away.

As they got to the warehouse, they observed the scene. The building looked abandoned but they could feel the presence of other Alices, the "Z." There were no barriers around the building.

_Stupid._ He thought to himself. _Burning this place would be easy._

He readied himself and fire was at his hand, ready to be shot to the building. Persona put a hand on his shoulder. His hand was cold, making Natsume flinch.

"Wait, the secret weapon." Persona said. "We need to find out what it is."

He nodded and sneaked into the building without anybody noticing. Inside the building, there were men and women talking to each other. What surprised him was a brunette teenager sitting alone with her iPod on.

_Who is she?_

He took a look around, but no secret weapon was there. No machinery was present. Natsume went back to Persona and reported what he found. Everything went by so fast, Persona was speaking to somebody on the phone, then he was surprised to be told to burn the building, no more secret weapon in mind.

Natsume did as he was told. In seconds, the warehouse was up in flames. He was about to walk away when Persona stopped him again. "We`ll examine."

"Since when has that been my job?" Natsume asked sarcastically.

"Since you failed to bring me the secret weapon." Persona answered back. Natsume just rolled his eyes.

The burning didn`t last long. They were far enough from civilization that nobody would notice a fire even started. Once the flames vanished, the two went to look for the so-called secret weapon. Natsume just kicked the rubble out of his way, without even bothering to use his hands.

Nothing. He found nothing at all. Persona and Natsume were about to walk away when Natsume noticed a figure just meters away from the scene of the fire. As Natsume went closer to "examine", he distinguished a human figure, not just rubble.

Natsume`s eyes widened as he saw it was the brunette on the iPod.

~.~

"What did you find?" Persona asked, getting impatient.

"It`s.. A girl." Natsume said.

Persona was shocked. "Why would a girl be here? She might just be any other girl. Let us leave."

Natsume shaked his head. "No."

"No?"

"I saw this girl before the fire. She was in the building."

"What was she doing there? Could she be an alice?

"Maybe. What other explanation would it be that she was able to escape from my fire?"

"You`re weak." Persona explained. Natsume winced. He did not like Persona insulting him.

Natsume was about to answer back when he heard the girl moan. "Her head is bleeding."

"That`s none of my business."

He didn`t know why, but he felt obliged to say the girl. Natsume took her into his arms and walked to the car.

"What are you doing?" Persona shouted.

"Carrying the girl, isn`t it obvious?"

"I did not order that."

"What if she`s an Alice? What if she has information on the secret weapon?"

When Persona heard Natsume`s second presumption, he couldn`t help but walk back to the car without complaining about the girl anymore.

"I would not take care of her, you picked her up, you bring her to the Academy`s hospital."

~.~

Natsume doesn`t know what hit him but he felt a certain attraction to the brunette. He wanted to save her, he wanted to hear her speak, he wanted to know her name. Is that so much to ask?

As soon as they entered the Academy, Natsume brought the girl to the Academy`s hospital.

"What`s the matter with her?" The school`s doctor asked.

"I think she hit her head, we found her in the streets." Natsume lied. "Her head was blee-" _Strange. Just a while ago, her head was bleeding, but now, it seems completely healed._

"Her head was?"

"Nevermind that. Just make sure she`s okay." Natsume said. "Please." He added in a whisper.

"But Natsume," The doctor already knew him from his repeated visits. "We`re not even sure if she`s an Alice."

At that moment, Kazumi Yukihara, the High School Principal, passed by. He was in the Academy`s hospital for he was checking up on the school.

"HSP." The doctor bowed.

"Who is this you are talking about?" He asked in a powerful tone.

"Well, Natsume brought in a girl whom they passed by in his mission." The principals know about the missions that the Elementary School Principal sends the Dangerous Ability Class to. Despite how they object, they cannot do anything for the DA class is under the ESP. "And I don`t even know if she`s an Alice."

"Let me see her." The principal demanded. He was lead to the girl. Once he saw the brunette, he was shocked at how powerful her aura was emitting. _Several alices._ He thought. He decided not to tell anybody of the little girl`s power for there was something familiar about her that makes him want to protect her. "She`s an Alice."

"But sir! What`s her—" The doctor was cut off when the principal walked out, trying his best not to talk about her.

~.~

The doctor then started examining her. She was also going to be admitted to the school since she`s an Alice.

"Natsume." The doctor called out. He looked up from the manga he was reading. "Do you have any injuries? Cause if not, you don`t need to be here. Go back to your dorm."

He wanted to object but he knew it was the truth. It was past the students` curfew and so he went back to his room and left the brunette.

~.~

"_Mikan." Mother told me before she was about to leave me._

"_Mother?"_

_Tears were forming in her eyes. She knew that she had one foot already in the grave. Mother belonged to an organization she doesn`t want to talk to me about. She said that if I knew, they might track me down and use me._

"_Always take care of yourself." She kissed my forehead. "And remember, never let anybody know of your Stealing Alice unless it`s really called for. Do not let anybody use you."_

"_Yes, mother." I said. My voice was already getting croaky. I felt a tear on my cheek._

"_I love you, Mikan."_

"_I love you too, mother."_

_And that was the last time I ever saw my mother, Azumi Yuka._

Mikan woke up in a well-lighted room. She was in hospital room, she guessed.

_What am I doing here? Where am I? What happened?_ The last thing she ever remembers was that of her dream.

Seconds after her waking up, the doctor came into the room, as if he knew everything that was happening.

"Hello. Who are you?" She asked, straightforwardly.

"I`m a doctor." _I hate doctors. _She thought to herself. "And you are?"

"Mikan, Mikan Sakura." She introduced herself. "May I ask what am I doing here? Last thing I know is that mother was leaving me."

"When was this?" The doctor asked, pulling out a pen and scribbling on his pad.

"Yesterday." Mikan said, rubbing her arms. "Why is it so cold?"

The doctor just laughed. "Mikan, it`s winter, how will it not be cold?"

"What do you mean it`s winter?" Mikan asked, confused. "It`s summer."

This earned a raised eyebrow from the girl. "So, it`s true."

"What is?"

"The result of my exams."

"What is the result?" Mikan asked, getting tired of the vague answers.

"In my exam, it seemed that you have some memory loss from the impact." He said. "You see, you were brought here by a student and he tells me that you`re head was hit pretty hard. When I examined you, there were concussions but your external seemed fine!" _Perfectly fine for somebody who hit her head._ The doctor thought.

Mikan smirked. She knew exactly why that was, she had the alice of invincibility, meaning she heals real fast. But she wasn`t about to tell a stranger that.

"Where am I, by the way?"

"My dear, you are in Alice Academy, the school for Alices."

"I know what Alices are." Mikan said. "My mother told me all that when I was 10."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Hm, it seems you remember your childhood and all that, except for what happened the past year. Maybe it was a stressful year for you."

"How do you feel?"

"I`m fine. So what happens now?"

"You`re gonna study here." Mikan got excited, she heard stories about this place. She always wanted to go here though her mother objected.

"Yey!" She clapped her hands. "Oh yeah, you said some student brought me in. May I know who it was so I could thank him?"

"Oh yes right."

"So?.."

"His name`s Natsume Hyuuga. About your age. Don`t forget to talk to him, he seems attached."

Mikan just smiled. The name was familiar but she just couldn`t put her damaged head into what it was.

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><p><strong>Reviews are very much appreciated. :) Tell me what you think of it, honestly. :D<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two of Secret Weapon! :D Hope you all like this. :)) Thank you for the reviews. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don`t own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters.**

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><p><span>CHAPTER TWO.<span>

_Mikan`s POV._

When the doctor said I was okay to be dismissed, the Academy didn`t waste any time to make me begin my classes. They said they didn`t want any trouble makers so I guess I`ll be confined in a classroom. I really can`t remember what happened to me the past year. All I remember is mother leaving. Those memories make me want to cry.

No, Mikan. You shouldn`t cry. I have to find out what happened to her and why I end up here. But first, I have to find that Natsume Hyuuga.

Waiting for me at the entrance of the hospital was a man with long, wavy, blonde hair and dressed weirdly. He had a weird expression on his face. Is he gay or something like that? He had a large smile on his face.

"Hi Mikan-chan!" The boy greeted me with an enthusiastic voice. "I`m your teacher, Narumi."

"Narumi-sensei." I said with a smile. I`ve never had a teacher. Mother used to home-school me since she kept telling me I had to be hidden away from something. Have I found out what that something was the past year? I wouldn`t know. "May I ask a question?"

"Of course!" Sensei said with the same tone.

"Why are you dressed like that?" He was wearing some sort of circus clothes in purple.

"…" Narumi scratched his head. "Well, uhm, I just like to dress up!"

Gay. That`s for sure. "Sensei, tell me about this Academy." I told him tugging his sleeve.

"Hyper, aren`t we?" Narumi told me, back to his old self. I nodded to him enthusiastically. "Before we start, I have to know what Alice you have."

What alice I have? A lot, that`s what. But mother told me never to reveal myself to anybody unless it`s called for. Mother had the same Alice I have, the Stealing and Inserting Alice. I was born with this alice and the nullification alice. The rest of my alices were inserted to me by my mother. I never really tried to steal somebody`s alice yet. I don`t plan to.

Something started ringing, Narumi answered his phone. "Mhm. Mhm. Okay, we`re on our way now."

Who could that have been? "Well, Mikan-chan, it seems you are already wanted in your dorm. Let`s talk about this all in the bus." As he said that, he continued his call and led me to the bus on the way to the dorm.

While Sensei was busy, I recalled the alices I have. Some would be useful at sometimes that I`m lazy while some could be used to save or destroy lives. **Nullification**, the alice that will protect me from any alice. **Stealing and Inserting Alice**, the alice that can take a person`s alice from them and insert it to either myself or somebody else. These were the alices I were born with.

The rest were inserted to me. **Healing Alice**, ability to heal. **Invinsibility Alice**, the ability to heal fast. This is the reason why my head obtained no damage from whatever damaged my memory. **Shape-shifting Alice**, I can turn into different people, but I should have seen them before. **Telekinesis**, ability to control things with my mind. **Voice pheromone**, people that hear my voice can be under my control.

There were two other alices that were more complicated than the others. One contrasted the other, completely. The **Life-giving Alice**, it was an alice that can make me breath more life into another person. My most dangerous alice is the **Stone Alice**. I can turn anybody into living stone by looking at them. Just like Medusa.

I kind of understand why mother doesn`t want anybody to learn about my other alices. They might take advantage of me.

My thoughts were disturbed when Narumi called out my name. "Mikan-chan, sorry for that. Misaki-sensei just gave me a hard time because I stole some of his bean whips."

"It`s okay, sensei." I said.

"So, where were we?" Narumi placed his hands on his chin. "Ah, yes! You`re alice."

"Nullification." It was the safest alice I can think of.

"Oh really?" Narumi senses something suspicious I bet. "The High School Principal tells me you have more power than a lot of students here."

I sighed. Maybe I can trust sensei with the knowledge of more alices. "Telekinesis, Voice Pheromone."

"Ah!" Narumi clapped his hands. "A person with three alices, impressive!"

"Thank you. So, Sensei…" He looked up. "What am I to expect in my stay here?"

Sensei smiled at me. "Here are the basics. You are going to be in the Middle School Division since you`re just fifteen right?" I nodded. "When you`re seventeen, you will graduate middle school and move onto the High School Division. Seeing as you just started here, your Star Ranking will be Single. Star Ranking is divided into five, no star, single, double, triple, special. Work your way up, and you`ll do just fine."

"Hai!"

"That`s the spirit!" Narumi said.

"I can`t wait to start!" I was jumping up and down in my head.

~.~

_Third Person`s POV._

Narumi and Mikan arrived at the Middle School Dorms. She was lead to her Single room and right there on the bed was her uniform.

She rushed to her bed to see a white polo with a blue ribbon under a navy jacket with light blue outlines. The skirt was blue plaid. Together with it, there were brown boots that were just under her knees. Mikan shoo`ed Narumi out of her room and called him back when she was done changing.

"So kawaii!" Narumi said and they jumped together. How childish.

"Thank you!" She said, laughing.

Narumi looked at his wristwatch. It was about nine in the morning. "So, Mikan-chan. Do you want to meet your classmates?"

"Hai!" Mikan was excited to see what was in store for her behind those classroom doors. She reminded herself not to show any of the other alices aside from the three, nullification, telekinesis, and voice pheromone.

~.~

Sakura Mikan. Narumi wrote on the blackboard. They were in Class B of the Middle School Branch. Mikan was too busy staring at her classmates. Some were flying, walking on walls, drawings were flying around.

"Class, this is Sakura Mikan." She bowed. When she stood straight, crumpled paper went straight to her face. She looked at the direction the paper was from. Everybody looked. It came from a girl with dark olive green hair, and curls falling from her head.

"What was that for?" Mikan asked in a soft voice. _Chill, Mikan._ She told herself.

"Ugly." The girl said. _Bitch._ Mikan thought. "What`s with the pigtails? What are you, ten?"

The class wasn`t too accepting of new students. They have been together since elementary, so they weren`t used to new members. And having once particular student in their class made all of them feel powerful.

"Shut up." Mikan`s voice rang clear. It sounded so powerful everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at her. They heard the girl gasp and words didn`t come out from her mouth. "You don`t know what you`re saying, Permy."

The class laughed. With the sudden laughter, a boy that was sleeping behind the classroom with a book in his face was bothered from his sleep. _Sheesh, why so noisy?_ Natsume peeked from his book to see the brunette girl he saved last night, in front of the classroom, wearing the Academy`s uniform. His heart suddenly went up a notch.

Narumi was shocked but managed to recover fast and held onto Mikan`s shoulders. "I forgot to tell you of her Alices."

"Alices?"

"So she has a lot?"

The class murmured. "Mikan-chan, would you tell them what your alices are."

"Gladly." Mikan was in the mood to brag, just because she wanted to be all 'in your face' at the girl. "Nullification, telekinesis, voice pheromone."

"Voice pheromone? Like Sensei`s?" A blond boy with glasses asked. He was sitting in front.

"Yes, Iinchou, like mine, but hers is more… Discreet. She just needs to speak, no more movements needed."

"Cool!"

"Wow, she`s powerful."

"I want her to be my friend."

The students started murmuring again. "Hm, it seems as if you need a controlling device." Narumi said. He forgot that. He was as excited as the girl to start class he forgot about how dangerous a pheromone like that could be. "Now, I`ll just go and get one while you bond with your classmates."

"Hai!" Mikan said, in a happy voice. Her other classmates, aside from the girl, looks kind.

"Iinchou, will you kindly look over her?" Iinchou nodded. "And Mikan, please don`t use your pheromone."

With that, he exited from the room and Mikan was left in the room with her classmates.

"Hi, I`m Yuu Tobita, the class representative." The boy in glasses introduced himself. "But everybody calls me Iinchou."

"Nice to meet you Iinchou!"

"I`m Nonoko."

"I`m Anna!"

The students crowded her while Natsume watched from afar, Ruka always beside him.

"Yah, Natsume. Is something wrong?" Ruka asked his best friend.

"No, it`s nothing." He just shrugged the feeling of wanting to talk to the new girl off. Inside, he wanted to introduce himself and tell her he was the one that saved her.

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_

Mikan looked up to see what just hit her. Her classmates stepped back and showed it was Hotaru Imai.

"Hotaru?" Mikan went closer. "It is you! Oh Hotaru! The last time I saw you was when we were nine." Mikan and Hotaru were best friends before Hotaru was taken away by the Academy. They didn`t talk to each other after that.

_Baka!_ Hotaru shot another hit from her infamous Baka Gun as Mikan was about to hug her. "I didn`t know you were an Alice."

Mikan scratched her head, "Well yeah…"

"They seem to be having fun." Ruka told Natsume. They were the only ones, not crowding her. Sumire Shouda, the girl that was told by Mikan to shut up, and her friends went out of the classroom out of annoyance.

"Go ahead and introduce yourself if you want." Natsume told him, resting his head, and putting the book above his face again. He was planning to sleep the rest of the period, again.

The classroom was busy until Narumi came. She gave Mikan an earring that will be able to control her Voice Pheromone. They started the class and Natsume just slept all the way until the end of the class when somebody tapped his shoulder to wake him up. He was expecting it to be Ruka but instead, he was staring at a certain brunette, everybody from the class had already gone back to the dorms.

"Hi Natsume. I`m Mikan, thanks for saving me." She said with a smile that made Natsume`s heart want to explode.

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><p><strong>Soo? I hope you liked this one. :) As for the Alices, some were just randomly thought of. Hope you guys don`t mind me adding power to her! :D Reviews are <span>greatly<span> appreciated.**

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hellooo! I`m back with another chappie. Sorry if it took me so long to update. /sobs/ My mom`s giving me a hard time using the laptop. -_- I promise to make it up to all of you! ;)**

**Disclaimer : I don`t own Gakuen Alice. /whispers : Oh I just hope I do.**

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><p>"<em>Hi Natsume. I`m Mikan, thanks for saving me." She said with a smile that made Natsume`s heart want to explode.<br>_

Chapter Three.

Natsume`s eyes instantly widened when he heard her sweet but enthusiastic voice. It was weird but he couldn`t move. Was it because of this girl? _Pft._ He thought and stood up, making his book fall to the floor. Mikan picked it up but when she was about to stand up, their heads bumped into each other. The force made Mikan fall down on her butt.

"Aish." She said, massaging her forehead. "That hurt."

"Baka." Natsume said, not even stopping to give her a hand. He didn`t want to grow close to anybody. Natsume doesn`t want anybody to be dragged into his darkness. "Watch where you`re going."

He was about to go out the room when Mikan finally recovered and stood up. "Yah! That`s rude."

All she heard was a smirk as he completely went out the room.

"Sheesh, I was just thanking him." Mikan said while walking in the corridors. "What did I do to him to make him treat me that way?"

"Stupid, stupid Natsume!" She said while stomping her feet on the way to the next class, which happens to be PE. She looked at her watch. "Crap! I`m gonna be late."

She started running to where her PE class. "I`ll never make it on time." She sighed. Mikan started walking when she hear a mechanical sound from behind. When she looked behind, it was Hotaru on her flying duck thing.

"Hotaru-chan!" Mikan said which made Hotaru stop her vehicle and look at the tired Mikan.

"What are you doing, baka? We have PE." She said in her usual cold voice.

"I`m going to be late anyway, I can`t make it even if I run."

"Get on." Hotaru said, throwing a helmet at Mikan. This earned a wide smile from the brunette.

"You`re still my best friend!" Mikan said as she held onto Hotaru`s back as the vehicle sped up.

~.~

Dodgeball.

They were having Alice Dodgeball for PE. Alice Dodgeball was banned for their class since Elementary but it was finally unbanned, given certain exceptions. Natsume wasn`t allowed to use his Alice when throwing the dodgeball. In any case of emergency, they should call the authorized.

It was the start of their game. Mikan was excited on playing since this was her first time._I wonder what the ball would look like given I have multiple alices?_ She thought to herself.

The whistle was blown, and the ball was at Mikan`s team. The game was pretty intense in Mikan`s eyes. She was amazed at the different forms the ball took and also different ways it was handled by the alices. The ball was thrown directly at her, and fortunately, she was able to catch it.

"What will I do with you?" Time-out was called by Narumi. He went there to observe their class and the new student. Seeing as Mikan had no idea what to do with the ball, he decided to give her some advice.

"Mikan-chan!" Narumi waved, telling her to go to him. Mikan did so. "Alice dodgeball, huh? Is it fun?"

"Hai!" Mikan exclaimed. "But, I have no idea what I can do with my alice in this game."

"Well, it seems your nullification was perfect for defense." Narumi said. "The throw was actually from a student with the teleportation alice making the ball disappear when thrown, but when it came to you, it suddenly appeared!"

"Oh! I see." Mikan was as amazed as Narumi was. "How about my other alices?"

"Well, with your telekinesis, you can be able to move the ball while in air but that needs some more practice for you who just began. But…" Narumi`s eyes sparkled. "I once had a kohai with the same alice as your voice pheromone, it seems that once you throw the ball anywhere, and say who you wanna hit, it would automatically hit them."

"Wow!" She clapped her hands. The whistle was blown again, as a signal that the game was back in play.

Mikan still had the ball. There were only three of them left while four on the other team. Natsume was still playing on the other team, they avoided giving him the ball. As what she observed, the one giving them a hard time is that girl with teleportation so she decided to try her alice on her.

She threw the ball high, which made Natsume scoff. "Who would you hit with that, baka?"

Hotaru was still on her team, and her baka gun was powered up. "Was that intentional? I don`t want to fail PE." She said with a dangerous tone. Mikan`s hand came up to stop Hotaru.

"Aiko." Mikan said, referring to the girl with the teleportation alice. The ball suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit Aiko out the game.

"Woahhh." The class said in unison. They were amazed by the manifestation of her alice before their eyes.

"I did it!" Mikan said, jumping up and down.

"Get your head in the game." Hotaru said, with a blank expression on her face. Mikan nodded and concentrated once again. There were only three of them left in the game. Hotaru, Natsume, and her.

The ball was in Natsume`s hands. Looks like he was aiming for Hotaru. He was about to throw the ball when Persona appeared, with his evil smile which infuriated Natsume. Unconsciously, Natsume used his alice on the ball and send a fiery ball towards Hotaru. It was too late for anybody to react when the fire ball hit her.

"Hotaru!" Mikan screamed. Hotaru was grunting in pain when the teacher carried her to the benches.

"Stupid." Mikan said in a dangerous tone. "How dare you hit her!"

She threw the ball up in the air. Natsume`s stance changed as he got ready for the ball. "Natsume Hyuuga." She said. The ball suddenly showed up out of nowhere. It was fast! He was about to catch the ball when he noticed the ball`s appearance changed. It was… Gray. It hit him right in the stomach.

_Crap! Why is it so heavy._ The ball changed into stone. Nobody except Natsume noticed it. He was thrown off the court by the amount of power. In the end, the ball fell from Natsume`s hands. He was forced to sit down from the pain in his abdomen. Ruka, Sumire, and other fangirls ran towards Natsume while Mikan went to where Hotaru was.

"Is she alright?" She breathlessly asked the teacher. She had a burn in her right arm. It seemed to be hurting her.

"She is, only if Subaru Imai was here." The teacher sighed as he opened the first aid kit. Nobody was paying too much attention to them since they were all at Natsume`s side, except one particular black-haired man who seemed to have noticed her Alice Dodgeball.

_That wasn`t just a pheromone ball._ Persona thought to himself. He observed Mikan`s actions.

"W-who is Subaru Imai, sensei?" Mikan asked and looked up.

"Well, he`s a high school student and has the Healing Alice. It would come quite handy." The teacher said and took out a bunch of medicine.

_Healing alice?_ Mikan thought. _Darn, it`s just my first day and I`m forced to reveal another alice. Looks like nobody will notice. Only sensei, Hotaru, and I._

"I`ll do it, sensei." She said. The teacher looked at her disbelievingly. "Just promise not to tell anybody about this."

Sensei was confused but agreed. Mikan placed her hand on top of Hotaru`s arm carefully. Hotaru twitched from the touch but seemed to relax. The teacher wasn`t quite informed of what was happening until he saw the burn slowly decreasing in size until it was fully gone.

Hotaru saw this too and was shocked. "M-mikan."

"Hm?" Mikan looked at Hotaru as soon as she was done healing her.

"What did you just do?"

Mikan sighed. "I healed you."

"How?"

"I have the healing alice." She admitted. Hotaru didn`t look surprised, she already figured it out when she was healing her.

"Why didn't you tell the academy?"

"Nothing."

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_ Hotaru`s baka gun hit her. Mikan smiled seeing her best friend was alright. "Why do you carry that around?"

"Don`t keep a secret from me-!"

Persona smiled from a distance. He was able to see everything that just happened. The powerful dodgeball, and the healing of Hotaru`s burn. _Seems I have come not only to pick up the Black Cat. But also to find out something very impressive about that girl he brought to the academy._ He thought to himself and went out of sight.

~.~

The incident about the dodgeball game long faded. It was three days after their PE game and everybody seems to have moved on. Classes were boring, as usual. Hotaru and Mikan still had this weird friendship. Narumi still wore weird clothes. Sumire hated Mikan.

But Natsume was being more distant to Mikan than before. Maybe it was because she beat him and hurt his male ego? Hm, yeah. Maybe it`s that.

They were having their Homeroom Class with Narumi and everybody seems to be psyched about something except Mikan.

_I wonder what`s the big fuss?_ She thought to herself.

"Well, class!" Narumi clapped his hands. "It`s the long-awaited time of the year."

"What is?" Mikan asked. Everybody looked at her as if she was some person from out-of-space. She certainly felt that way.

"Ah yes, Mikan-chan. You just started here so you wouldn`t know the festivals of the school."

"Festivals?" _Ooh that sounds like so much fun! _She thought to herself.

"It is." Koko whispered beside her, obviously reading her mind. She jumped from her seat and covered her ears.

"Stop reading my mind!" She said and sat down.

"As if covering your ears would stop him." Hotaru said.

"Okay class, settle down!" Narumi said and the class did. _Hm, weird. Seems they`re excited…_ "Okay, Iinchou, please explain to Mikan-chan what will happen."

Iinchou stood up and suddenly there were writings and drawings on the board. _An illusion?_ Mikan thought. _Probably._

"Well you see, Mikan-chan, aside from regular classes, Alice Academy has some occasions where students can have fun. Every year, we have an Alice Festival that lasts for two weeks. This happens every year."

"Cool!" She said.

"It`s a time where we can show our alices and do fun things with them. The students create every attraction that will feature their alices. Some guests are also invited to that Festival."

"But that isn`t what`s gonna happen!" Narumi said.

"What…?" Mikan said, her excitement suddenly dampened.

"You see, aside from the Festival," Iinchou cleared up. "We have a School Fair that happens only every five years."

_Woah. Seems very big to happen not every year!_

"It is." Koko pointed out again, reading her mind. She decided to ignore him and listen to Iinchou.

"The fair is only a two-day activity wherein we have rides and different booths. It`s like you`re in central town but rides are included. It`s like a small festival. What makes it very special is that the students are grouped by class, not by specialty classes so the alices are varied. It only happens every five years since it doesn`t invite outsiders unlike the Alice Festival."

"Oohh. I see."

"So, should we start planning on what our booth will be?" Iinchou asked the class while his illusion on the board suddenly vanished.

The class suddenly planned for the fair that they were excited for.

"Yah." A student said. "I heard a class in High School is making a marriage booth!"

Mikan`s eyes suddenly widened. _A marriage booth?_

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><p><strong>Hope you liked this chap! Currently writing the next chap. :D Reviews are sooooooooo much appreciated. :D<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, like I said, I`ll make up for the long update. So here is another chapter! :D Hope ya`ll like this. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p>"<em>Yah." A student said. "I heard a class in High School is making a marriage booth!"<em>

_Mikan`s eyes suddenly widened. A marriage booth?_

Chapter Four.

It was the opening of their school fair. Mikan`s class decided to do a Cupid`s Delivery booth. It was February and so Valentines` Day was near. This is how they decided to do it.

Their class bought some roses in Central Town and also some chocolates. Those in the Technical Class helped in creating their booth and also spicing up their products(roses and chocolates). The idea of their booth was that a person orders a delivery from their booth, either they buy the roses or they have them delivered. Since they have a lot of students with teleportation and telekinesis in their class, delivery would be fun and easy. Hotaru could also help with delivering.

The delivery fee would cost them, an additional fee when you want it to have a message, and a lot more add-ons like chocolates and such. They predicted this booth to be very popular because of the Valentines season. It was. It was famous to everybody.

Mikan and Hotaru`s shift just came to an end. Their shift was at the beginning of the booth. It was for them to get to enjoy the fair without worrying about their shift or anything like that.

The two best friends roamed around the fair grounds with amazement in their eyes.

"Hotaru, this is amazing!" Mikan told her while tugging her sleeve.

"Yeah, I know." She said, still with the same cold expression. "I was here the last fair."

"Well, it`s my first time here." Mikan said. "So, enjoy it with me?"

Hotaru looked at her best friend and saw that smile she loved seeing.

~.~

While Mikan and Hotaru enjoyed themselves with the rides, Natsume was being bored, as usual. He tried to sleep on a tree branch but failed because of all the noise from the students in the rides.

"Natsume!" Somebody called out his name. "Natsume, where are you?"

"Onii-chan, where are you?" He heard another boy call out his name.

It was Ruka and Youichi. Natsume took a last stretch of his arms and jumped down the tree. He jumped just a few meters behind the two boys. Ruka was holding on to his rabbit while Youichi was just beside him. Youichi still calls Natsume despite growing up. Youichi was an eight year old with blue eyes.

"Ah, there you are." Ruka said, going to him. "Why are you hiding in that tree?"

"Stupid roses." Natsume was referring to the deliveries of his class. He didn`t agree to it since he knew this was going to happen.

As if on cue, roses appeared in front of him. Maybe a dozen of roses from different students. They piled up since the deliverers weren`t able to find Natsume while he was in the tree.

"Oh. I see." Ruka said.

Natsume`s hand was suddenly on fire. He was pointing it to the roses.

"What are you doing?" Ruka shouted.

"Isn`t it obvious? I`m going to burn these roses." He said as one petal burst into flames.

Youichi and Ruka didn`t say anything else as they followed Natsume while he walked away to the shops. The fair was just like Central Town, except for the different rides like the Octopus, Ferris Wheel, inflatable's, and a lot more. There were also some high school students running around with their special hula-hoops for catching.

Almost everything here cost rabbits. The rides are one rabbit each, the food, the different clothes and souvenirs, the booths, and of course, the catching booth.

These were the booths that the High School Division decided on. There were three different catching booths. The marriage booth, the costume booth, and the jail booth. If you get caught, you go to either these three and serve some time in the booth. There`s no bail to these booths, no sore losers.

The dedication booth is administered by the student council, they`re also the ones that decide on who gets to be caught. Those wanted should hide in the rides, shops, or any where else that the catchers can`t get a hold of you. The dedication booth announce the wanted people, this maybe really stupid as 'Those who aren`t jumping up and down get caught,' or something on what you`re wearing like, 'Those who`re wearing a headband get caught.'

"Space Rangers, space rangers," The dedication booth`s voice was heard throughout the whole fair grounds. 'We are under attack! Catch all those who are not doing jumping jacks!"

See how stupid it can get? But it seems everybody follows. All around, those who were casually walking in the fair grounds started doing jumping jacks. The catchers eyes were sharp for those who didn`t follow so they easily got caught.

Unfortunately, Natsume wasn`t listening. He was talking when suddenly Ruka and Youichi started jumping up and down causing Natsume to raise an eyebrow.

"What the heck are you doing?" Natsume asked them.

"Onii-chan, behind you." He said while jumping up and down.

Natsume looked around and saw a bunch of catchers with their hula-hoops. It was too late for him to start his jumping jacks since the catchers caught him.

"Darn it." He tried burning but it was useless. The hula-hoops prevented anybody from using their alice.

"Aw Natsume-kun!" The girl catcher said. "Too bad."

Natsume didn`t want to make much of a fuss and so he just followed the catchers. Ruka and Youichi followed while still doing their jumping jacks.

~.~

"Wow, Hotaru, that was fun!" Mikan said as they exited the ride. Mikan`s hair was messed up from the wind in her hair.

Hotaru was busy looking around. She seemed to notice the people jumping. Keeping her same old expression, she did some jumping jacks.

"Hotaru, what are you doing?" She asked her while they walked towards another booth.

"Exercising." Mikan was dense enough to believe. She didn`t even look around to notice the other people doing the same.

"Ah, looks like exercising is popular here…" Mikan said while putting a hand on her chin. While she was thinking, a hula hoop went around her waist.

"Gotcha!" The girl said, enthusiastically.

"Huh?" Mikan got surprised and held unto Hotaru`s sleeve. "Oh wait… You`re catchers!"

"Baka. You`re slow." Hotaru said.

"Come on, follow me!" The catcher said as she marched towards the booths.

"Excuse me, but, what booth are you in?"

"Marriage booth!" She exclaimed.

"Hotaruuuuuuuu! Help meeee." Mikan begged.

Hotaru laughed at her best friend. Her eyes were caught by three men on the way to the marriage booth. A blonde with a rabbit, a brunette boy, and a raven-haired boy with a hula-hoop around him.

"This is going to be fun." Hotaru whispered and got her camera out. "Hurry up."

The catcher nodded and practically dragged Mikan to the marriage booth.

"Whyyyy? What did I do to deserve this?" Mikan complained.

"Be quiet, baka." Hotaru threatened and pointed his baka gun to her. She did what she was told and just whimpered on the way to the booth.

"Looks like your bride is here!" The high school student named Kiyoshi said. He was wearing an outfit that looks like somebody to minister a wedding.

Natsume didn`t look behind him since he didn`t really care who he was going to be married to. He was planning to make a run for it as soon as he gets the chance. The person he was about to be married to went beside him. Through his peripheral vision, he saw a brunette that was shorter than him for about five inches or so.

He recognized the figure that was about to be wedded to him. It was that girl that made his heart skip a beat when he first saw here lying near the pier. That girl that made his heart beat faster than normal when he saw her in the classroom wearing the uniform. That girl whom he was about to be married to.

"What are you doing here?" He whispered to her.

"Isn`t it obvious?" Mikan said sarcastically.

_She`s got a point…_ He thought to himself. _Am I really going to be married to her?_ Natsume`s thoughts on escaping the marriage suddenly left his mind.

"So, let us start the ceremony, shall we!" Kiyoshi clapped his hands. "Oh, Natsume, you have to pay 10 rabbits for the rings."

Natsume rolled his eyes but took out 10 rabbits from his pocket. _Wow, rings that cost 1,000 yen._ Mikan already knew about rabbits, she received her first allowance a day after her first day in Alice Academy. Specials like Natsume had the most allowance, 300 rabbits. While her, a single star, only had 20 rabbits.

"Mhm." Kiyoshi said and began the 'ceremony' "We are all gathered her today to witness the wedding of Natsume and Mikan of Class B of the Middle School."

Their audience giggled at the fact that these two were getting bonded. "To those who do not want to continue this wedding… Shut up." Kiyoshi demanded and gained another set of laughs.

"Mikan, do you accept Natsume to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Kiyoshi asked, all formal.

Mikan blushed fifty shades of red. "I-I do." She managed to say.

Kiyoshi winked at her and turned to Natsume. Do you, Natsume, accept Mikan to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." Natsume said, still with his cold expression but there was something different from his voice. Somehow, shaky.

"Good!" Kiyoshi smiled. "Place the rings on each other."

So they did as they were told. With shaking hands, Mikan placed the ring in Natsume`s finger. Natsume did the same and looked away while doing so. He didn`t want any emotion to be shown.

"By the power vested in me by my classmates, I know pronounce you man and wife!" Cheers burst from their audience. "You may now choose if you`d like to kiss your bride in the lips or hug for thirty seconds."

Natsume was about to say kiss just to tease her more. Mikan beat him to the punch and said. "H-hug!"

Kiyoshi nodded his head and said, "Okay then, you may now hug your bride!"

They went close to each other, awkwardly and slowly. Mikan and Natsume sighed. Natsume was the first to make the move and wrapped his arms around Mikan. She hugged him and held onto his waist.

_Click. Click._ Hotaru wouldn`t miss this chance to make use of the special moment.

Before the thirty seconds was over, Kiyoshi placed handcuffs around Mikan and Natsume`s wrists.

"Oh and did I tell you, you`ll be handcuffed to each other when you get married?

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><p><strong>Hope you liked this chapter. ;) Ooooh. They`re going to be stuck to each otherrrr. What could happen? Review! :) Hm, tell me, are my chapters too short? Should I make my chapters longer?<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey theeere! Chapter five is here to invade your world! Lol, just kidding. Sorry if this took somehow long(?). My junior year of High School has just began. :O Well good luck to me. Hope you like this chapter. ;) I`m trying to write longer chapters but I seem to be stuck at this number of words only. o.o I tried! :D Thank you very much for all the reviews you gave me. They make me inspired to write. :")**

**Disclaimer : I am not Higuchi Tachibana, I don`t own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p><em>Before the thirty seconds was over, Kiyoshi placed handcuffs around Mikan and Natsume`s wrists.<em>

"_Oh and did I tell you, you`ll be handcuffed to each other when you get married?_

Chapter Five

"WHAT?" Mikan and Natsume shouted in unison.

Kiyoshi scratched his head and gave out a sly laugh. "Hehe. Uh, yeah. It`s written on the board. See?"

Everybody, including Hotaru, Ruka, and Youichi looked at the white board behind Kiyoshi.

_MARRIAGE BOOTH._

_Nobody escapes._

_Ten Rabbits for the rings._

_Married couples are handcuffed for an hour… Unless you ask for more! ;)_

"Guess I should`ve read that…" Natsume said, sighing.

"Noooo, but I really wanted to ride the ferris wheel." Mikan said while they were out of the booth. She was beginning to become fidgety and childish. She was moving her arms in different directions, making Natsume annoyed.

"Stop it." He demanded.

"No." She said and stuck her tongue out at him.

Natsume rolled his eyes and started to drag Mikan.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked, trying to drag him to the opposite direction he was going to. "What are you going to do with me!"

He stopped and faced her. "I don`t plan on doing anything with you, perverted girl." He said with a sly smile. Deep inside him, he loved teasing her. He likes how she blushes at things he says and often over-reacts on different stuff. Though he may not admit it, he wants to spend time with her as much as possible.

"What are you –" Mikan was about to complain again when Natsume dragged her to the booth wherein you buy ride tickets. She suddenly figured out what he was planning to do. She was touched. _I didn`t know this guy could be sweet._ Mikan thought to herself.

She remained quiet while Natsume bought the tickets. She didn`t know what to say, actually. She was truly shocked to see how caring the guy could be.

"I would like two tickets to the ferris wheel." Natsume told the student selling the tickets. She handed him two green tickets, which were designed for the ferris wheel.

"That would be 20 rabbits." She said, holding out a hand. Without hesitation, Natsume took 20 rabbits from his pocket and handed it to the girl. Once the transaction was done, he started to drag her again.

_Pft. When I started thinking he was nice, he started dragging me again. What am I, a dog?_ Mikan thought things to herself a lot.

The two, still handcuffed, went in line to the Ferris wheel. There wasn`t much of a long line. Compared to the line of the Octopus, this line was much shorter. Mikan looked up to see the rotation of the gigantic wheel in front and above her. It wasn`t the romantic type of Ferris wheel. It was more for the purpose of an adrenaline rush. The circling of the different carts was fast. Like, really fast.

After a minute or so, Hotaru and Ruka were in the line, just behind them.

"Hotaruuu!" Mikan tried to hug her but being handcuffed to Natsume she was just pulled back and almost fell.

"Baka." Hotaru and Natsume told her in unison. Mikan just rolled her eyes and waited for the line to move.

The line went by quickly since there were a lot of students in just one round. Once Natsume and Mikan were inside the cart, the door was closed.

"Can we ride with them?" Mikan asked the guy operating. She was desperate not to be stuck in a small place with this guy beside her.

"Sorry, girl, but only two in a cart." He smirked. Little did anybody know, but Natsume smiled as he learned there was no way anybody can disrupt them.

Mikan just slouched beside Natsume, since they were still tied together. Ruka and Hotaru just stayed in the cart beside them.

Once the ride started, it was all smooth-sailing, making Natsume bored. He looked at Mikan to see a defeated-looking girl. He couldn`t help himself but stare. Mikan wasn`t really conscious he was staring at her since she was too busy trying to rid the images of them together in a cart from her mind. Hotaru took this great opportunity to take blackmailing pictures. Ruka, beside her, just stayed idle, looking at the same direction as Hotaru`s camera was.

After a few rotations of the Ferris wheel, the rides speed started to pick up. It was going fast, like how Mikan saw it while they were still in the line. When they reached the top, and started to go down, Mikan felt her stomach wanting to leave its place and her heart being left up in the sky. She started to screech from all the swiftness of the rotation.

Involuntarily, Mikan grabbed onto Natsume`s sleeve for support. When Natsume felt the pressure in his arm, he looked down to see her hand, holding on to him for her life. He smiled when he saw her eyes closed and screaming at the top of her lungs. She wasn`t the only one with the high shouts, others in the ride were also feeling the same. All the girls, except for Hotaru, were losing their feminine posture because of this freaking fast Ferris wheel.

Everytime their cart would go down and give them that heart-falling feeling, Mikan would add more pressure to Natsume`s arm. He didn`t complain. He liked it.

Finally, the ride ended giving Mikan much relief and Natsume much disappointed. When they were waiting for their turn to be assisted down the cart, Mikan took it as a time to talk to him. "Sorry for screaming like a little girl."

"You are a little girl." He said with a grin.

"I am so not." She pouted. Natsume held onto her chin, making her blush. He was staring into her eyes. Mikan could`ve sworn something would`ve happened if only the Ferris wheel started moving. They were able to get down from the ride.

Natsume and Mikan were still handcuffed together. Neither of them complained anymore since having the other beside them didn`t bother them anymore. They got used to it, somehow. Natsume wasn`t dragging her this time, she willingly went wherever he wanted to go.

And for some reason, he wanted to go to the shops.

"Plan on buying something?" Mikan asked him. Natsume just replied with a simple "Mhm."

They strolled around the shops. They were designed just like how the booths were. The shops were beside each other. The different products varied from clothes, perfumes, shades, Central Town items, keychains, stuffed toys, bags, and a lot more.

Natsume stopped in front of a certain shop. Mikan was somehow surprised to see on where he stopped to look around at. They were in front of a shop/booth that sold different sizes, colors, shapes, and kinds of stuffed toys. From little stuffed toys that look like keychains to life-size stuffed toys the size of little kids.

Mikan looked at Natsume and waited for him to look up at her. She just raised her eyebrow and spoke nothing. Actions may just be greater than words. And in this moment, she didn`t actually know what to say.

"I`m just going to buy something."

"For who, a special someone?" She asked. Once Mikan thought of Natsume`s special someone, her heart suddenly fell for some reason. Natsume didn`t answer her question, all he did was scoff and started to look at the stuffed toys again.

He picked out something Mikan wouldn`t expect him to choose. It was not much of a big thing but something that could fit a bag. It was the size of his hand. It was a small teddy bear, colored orange, which had a little flame around the heart. It looked fragile.

"That looks nice." Mikan said. She was surprised her voice turned out to sound glum.

"Yeah, hope the person likes this." He said and paid for the teddy bear. The stuffed toy was small enough, it fit his pocket.

They started walking again. Mikan wasn`t as hyper as she was before. Natsume just had to ask. "What`s wrong with you?"

"It`s nothing."

_Damn it Natsume, you shouldn`t pry around people`s stuff._ He mentally scolded himself.

It was lunch time and they were still handcuffed. They bought food and looked for a place to sit in. While they were eating, they didn`t speak a word to each other.

Once they were done eating, Natsume wordlessly reached for something in his pocket. He was about to take it off when _poof_, the handcuffs vanished in thin air. It was probably an hour already.

"FREEEEEDOOOOM!" Mikan shouted as she got up and stretched. She looked down at Natsume, looking like he was ready to kill somebody. "Thanks for today." She said and ran out of his sight. _He looked so scary._

Natsume was pissed off. _Talk about buzz kill._

~.~

"This girl has multiple alices, as far as I have seen." A tall, slim man with black hair said. They were in a silent room, far away from the noise from the fair. The room looked like an office. There was a desk in front of a huge mirror, looking out. The rest of the room had sofas, and tables. There were pictures, rugs, and different plants to accent the room. "It doesn`t seem like the girl was born with all those alices."

"Stealing alice, probably?" The person he was speaking to said, in a formal voice.

"Yes, that is what I believe in." He said. His voice rang clear with pride, respect, and power.

"Interesting." He said with a smile, a devil`s smile. "Very interesting."

**Oooooohhhhhhh. Has this chapter been interesting? Lol. =)))) Hope you liked the ending of the two scenes, the one with Natsume and the "interesting" person. :D Is this still short? o.o Lol. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated.**

**Oh by the way! I need some answers for an idea I have. You just have to answer this. If you could have any alice, what do you want? (I`m kind of looking for offensive alices, but you can also answer anything. :D)**

**xoxo,**

**Terence. :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Oh my gosh. Thank you soooo much for all the reviews. :D It made me so happy to read it. I`m also thankful to everybody who made me their favorite author, the story their favorite story, and even got the story alert. Thank you thank you thank you! :D Here`s my next chapter, guys! I hope you like it. :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice. :(**

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><p>"<em>Stealing alice, probably?" The person he was speaking to said, in a formal voice.<em>

"_Yes, that is what I believe in." He said. His voice rang clear with pride, respect, and power._

"_Interesting." He said with a smile, a devil`s smile. "Very interesting."_

Chapter Six.

The first day of the fair was a success. Everybody in Alice Academy had fun. The objectives were met, which were to have the students build an awesome fair despite the challenges and the stress. For the first day, the fair started at about 9 am. For the second day of the fair, they start at noon.

Nothing much has changed compared to the previous day. Everybody was still buzzing around the fair grounds.

All around, there was happiness and excitement except for a particular booth, who`s attendants were only forced to come. And also dragged by a certain brunette.

Natsume and Ruka at the Cupid`s Delivery Booth. Nobody didn`t dare to crowd them this time since they were doing nothing but guard. Their booth wasn`t too active yet because of the heat. The students would rather stay in the food booths, under the shade.

The two best friends were just sitting under a small temporary-built tent. They were sitting behind a long table that had vases of different roses. Also on the table is a cooler that had all the chocolates. Natsume, being the bored attendant he his, had his feet up the table and was reading a manga he liked. Ruka was stroking his pet rabbit and just looking around the fair grounds, trying to find something attention-worthy.

"Natsume." Ruka called out, not making too much of a noise but loud enough for him to hear above all the fair noise.

"Hm?" Natsume looked up from his manga to look at Ruka who just called him.

"I`ll just go to the restroom." He said getting up. "You okay to stay here by yourself?"

"Pft." He scoffed. "I`m capable to handle things on my own sometimes."

Ruka just laughed at him and patted his shoulder before he went out.

Before Natsume could go back to reading his manga, his eye was caught by some people lining in front of the Octopus. As usual, this certain ride had the most liners-up. The line went circles around the ride itself. Waiting time even reaches up to 30 minutes for the last person in line.

The certain person that caught his attention was being childish, as usual. She was trying to convince her friend of some stupid point she has, Natsume thought.

Unconsciously, a smile crept up into his face. He was just staring at the girl then suddenly he smiles. _What`s wrong with me?_ He thought to himself.

Suddenly, an idea came into his mind.

No too obviously, he scanned the whole area near him. Once again, he did his actions very discreetly. He picked up the pen and scribbled in the list they had.

_Order: Rose Delivery_

_Purchased by: Anonymous_

_Recipient of order: Mikan Sakura_

He looked at his work and smirked.

_I can`t believe I`m doing this._ He thought to himself. _Oh well, it`s now or never_.

He rang the bell that signaled the on shift deliverers that there was an order. He didn`t make them know it was him, of course. It would ruin his reputation. All he said was,

"Am I obliged to remember who made that order?" He said it in such a bossy tone that nobody dared to question him anymore.

All the deliverer did was nod and do his job.

~.~

They had just finished their Octopus ride. Mikan and Hotaru never got tired to ride the most dynamic ride in the fair. Despite how many times they suffered the pain of lining up, they`d do it over and over again because it was the best ride there was.

As they got out of the ride, there was a rose falling into her hands. It was through teleport. Mikan caught the delicate rose in her hands.

Hotaru stopped in her tracks when she saw a red figure above Mikan`s head. She was about to take her camera out when she realized it was kind of a personal thing she shouldn`t meddle with anymore.

"Who is it from?" Hotaru just asked.

"I don`t know yet." Mikan said excitedly. She opened the card attached to the rose. There was nothing written. It was just a card that was silver and had a polka-dot design. "Hm, that`s weird."

"What is?" Hotaru looked up at her from what she was eating. Food never left Hotaru`s hands. She made sure she had enough reserve food to keep her happy throughout the whole day.

"There`s a card," She explained. "But nothing`s written."

Hotaru rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Maybe it`s just your stupidity. Let me see that." She took the rose away from Mikan and tried to scan the card. She figured maybe something in invisible ink was written so she pulled out her ballpen that had the light which enables a person to see invisible ink.

Nothing.

"Okay, so this time you aren`t much baka." She said, regretting what was actually coming out of her mouth. "But I wonder who its from."

Her eyes immediately scanned around. Trying to decipher who was actually the culprit.

Mikan was walking while doing the same as what Hotaru was doing. She wasn`t really looking where she was going so she suddenly bumped into a certain blonde.

"Oh, sorry, sorry!" Mikan said as she bowed.

"Mikan."

She was surprised to hear such a relaxed voice. Mikan was expecting something in the likes of infuriated and pissed off. Instead, she heard the opposite. Her posture straightened and saw Ruka right in front of her.

"Oh hi Ruka-pyon." She smiled.

He didn`t say anything. He was looking at her. Ruka was about to say something until he saw a rose in her hand. His face suddenly went red, he felt it so hot. Instead of saying anything, Ruka just walked out, wondering who could`ve beat him to the punch in giving her a rose.

"Hm, I wonder what`s wrong with him." Mikan pondered.

Hotaru tugged on her sleeve.

"What is it?" She asked.

"You`re such a baka. Didn`t you think it may be Ruka?"

"What do you mean about Ruka-pyon?"

Mikan was as clueless as ever. Hotaru had to roll her eyes again.

"OH!" Mikan was able to fix all the puzzle pieces together. "Ruka-pyon looked at my rose a while ago." She said and was senselessly stroked the soft petals of the rose. "Then, he didn`t say anything. Instead he blushed." She remembered. "And after that, he just went away without saying a thing!"

"Finally." Hotaru said. Clapping her hands, sarcastically.

"But why would he do that?"

"Well, we aren`t sure so let us not jump into conclusions." But that was exactly what they were doing. "Let`s keep this to ourselves, okay?"

"Okay, okay."

The two came up to their both just to check up on it. Natsume and Ruka were in their last 10 minutes of their shift and the two girls reached them before they could sign out.

Nobody even greeted the other. They just stared at each other, sensing the air around.

"Hi Natsume, Ruka-pyon!" Mikan greeted them with the same warm smile she always has.

"Hello, Mikan-chan." Ruka greeted her. Still quite embarrassed from walking out on her.

"So." Hotaru slammed her hands on the table, making Ruka`s rabbit jump. "How many rose purchases were there during your shift?"

She was trying to intimidate Ruka, who they think is the "culprit."

"Just two."

"Who bought it?"

"One was anonymous while the other one was a high school student named Aidou." Ruka was the only one answering the questions. So far, he seemed innocent in Hotaru`s eyes. Mikan wasn`t able to think of anything to say so she just watched. Natsume had the same bored face he always has.

"Who was the anonymous?" Hotaru kept pounding them with questions.

"I don`t know, Natsume was the only one here." Hotaru was stopped dead in her tracks. _Ruka wasn`t present?_

"So?" She turned her eyes to Natsume.

"How should I know?" Natsume was acting the same as he was with the deliverer.

"Because you were the one that anonymous bought the rose from."

"I`m not some super person that could remember anything." With that, their shift somehow ended so Natsume stood up and left. He was immediately followed by Ruka.

_I smell something fishy with his answers._ Hotaru said. As usual, Mikan was still as clueless as ever.

Before they could even go out of sight, Natsume looked back and shouted. "Hey you, don`t you have anything better to wear than polka dot underwear?"

Mikan was shocked and rushed to where Natsume was and was all up on his face asking, "Pervert! That`s sooo not true."

He scoffed. "Not today, your first day here."

"You pervert!"

Mikan tried to hit him but Natsume was able to avoid. "You showed me." Hotaru`s ears suddenly twitched from hearing it.

"I did not!" She still shouted.

Natsume just turned around and spoke the last line, "Yes, you did, polka."

What he was talking about was the first time they spoke to each other.

_Flashback. Natsume`s POV._

"_Hi Natsume. I`m Mikan, thanks for saving me." She told me. Why is my heart beating so fast? Ugh. Whatever. Pft._

_I stood up. I just wanted to leave this room. It was getting hot. Darn it, I forgot I had a book on my lap. Now it just fell on the floor._

_She picked it up._

_/heads hit/_

_Aish. What the heck? Why couldn`t she watch her way. I couldn`t help but see, when she fell, it seems she`s giving me a peek of what`s under her blue plaid skirt._

_Polka dots._

_End of flashback._

They put aside the rose and polka-dot incident and tried to enjoy the remaining of the fair. The first booth they went to was go-carts. The two enjoyed racing against one another. At first, Mikan was winning with her driving skill but Hotaru didn`t allow herself to lose. She spiked up the ride and made sure it was the fastest among all of the go-carts. In the end, Hotaru won against everybody. Mikan was too naïve not to suspect anything.

The next booth they went to seemed fun to both of them. Outside the booth were several people doing such thing as a fire dance. The dancers were holding into chains. In the end of those chains were tennis balls lit on fire.

It would be a fun thing to learn how to do that.

Mikan and Hotaru entered the booth and signed up for fire dance lessons. They were each given one chain with a tennis ball. At first, they weren`t on fire.

They were taught different skills on how to hold the chains and how to twirl them around the air and stuff. Once they got the hang of it, the tennis balls were lit on fire.

And they started doing different stunts with the fire balls. Mikan was enjoying herself and found it easy. She decided to stare into the fire balls that were going in circles. It was amazing how a simple flick in her wrist would increase the speed and all.

As she was staring at the fire balls, sudden pictures went through her head.

Fire. Guns. Men and women surrounding her. A high-classed hotel room. A meeting room.

The pictures in her head went too fast and confusing. After all the suddenness, her mind was filled with black all throughout. She fainted.

**Oh noooo! What happened to her? :O I hope you didn`t get bored with this chapter. :( Promise to make the next chapter much, much more interesting. :D Keep your reviews coming about which alice you would want. :D**

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	7. Chapter 7

**As promised, here`s another chapter of my fanfiction, Secret Weapon. :D They`re still in the fair. :)) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen alice.**

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><p><em><em>_As she was staring at the fire balls, sudden pictures went through her head._

_Fire. Guns. Men and women surrounding her. A high-classed hotel room. A meeting room._

_The pictures in her head went too fast and confusing. After all the suddenness, her mind was filled with black all throughout. She fainted._

Chapter Seven.

Mikan`s mind was filled with darkness. After a sudden burst of different images, her mind might have gone to overload and just shut down.

"_Mikan." Mother told me before she was about to leave me._

"_Mother?"_

_Tears were forming in her eyes. She knew that she had one foot already in the grave. Mother belonged to an organization she doesn`t want to talk to me about. She said that if I knew, they might track me down and use me._

"_Always take care of yourself." She kissed my forehead. "And remember, never let anybody know of your Stealing Alice unless it`s really called for. Do not let anybody use you."_

"_Yes, mother." I said. My voice was already getting croaky. I felt a tear on my cheek._

"_I love you, Mikan."_

"_I love you too, mother."_

She always had that same dream, over and over again. It kept bothering her since it was the last memory she remembers. What happened after that, she`s really not sure of. How could she forget a whole year? The doctor said she must have gone through a lot of stress, mentally and maybe physically, that it made the brain too uncomfortable and forgot it.

Maybe she learned something about her father? Has she been harassed or taken advantage of? Did those people from her mother's organization finally track her down?

She will never be sure of unless she investigates about it. But how will she ever do that if Alice Academy won`t allow her outside? Mikan would just have to be patient. The memories may just come back to her if she hits her head again or something.

Another image came to Mikan`s mind while unconscious. Several images, actually.

In between all the sudden white-outs of her mind, she sees images of people in black coming to get her, talking to men in suits, being given everything she wants, guns, cries, powerful people.

**Baka! Baka! Baka!**

Hotaru`s almighty baka gun really came into good use. Mikan was awakened from her unconsciousness and the flashing pictures. Unfortunately, she forgot the images again. She wasn`t sure if they actually happened, or was it all just a dream?

**Baka!**

"Hey! I`m awake!" Mikan said standing up. Around her, the students that were managing the booth surrounded her, as well as Hotaru, with her infamous gun in her right hand, Mikan`s extinguished fire balls in her left. _I must have spaced out._ She thought to herself.

"What happened to you?" Hotaru asked, concerned for her friend.

Mikan scratched her head and just smiled. "Sorry, I think I dozed off."

**Baka!**

Hotaru rolled her eyes while the other students just laughed, some complained about her making such a big fuss. "You made me worried, baka."

"I`m so sorry, Hotaru!" Mikan said, clinging to her arm again. "Planning for the fair must be getting to me just now."

"It`s okay. Don`t you do that again, okay?"

"I promise!" She smiled once more, making Hotaru do the same too.

In truth, Hotaru really liked seeing her best friend smile. Despite all the pain Hotaru`s gun may inflict on her, Mikan doesn`t cease to show how much she loves being in the company of the girl with cold, violet eyes.

~.~

"Hey, I`ll just buy crab brains." Hotaru said while they were walking in the fair grounds. She didn`t have to worry about losing any money. Being a triple star, Hotaru won`t ever have an empty pocket. She gets a high allowance, and with a technical alice, plenty of sponsors give their all for her.

"Mhm, I`ll just stay here." Mikan said while she slumped in a bench under the shade of a tree."

_Besides, I don`t want to get caught by any catchers again. _Mikan thought to herself. _This is a pretty safe place I hope._

She took that as a time to scan the fair grounds once again. The scene was still fairly the same. The octopus still had the longest line, catchers were all over the place, and currently, students were meowing in order not to get caught.

Mikan giggled at the sight of everybody meowing, looking stupid. With her stay in Alice Academy, she started to like it here. She liked the students, teachers, rooms, and a lot more. She has even made some friends more than she made enemies.

It was actually the first time she had any friends. Her mother made sure Mikan was confined in the corners of their house. Her reason was the usual, for protection. Unless she gained friends in the past year, Hotaru was officially her first best friend.

And that best friend of hers was taking long. Buying crab brains won`t take as long as she is. Crab brains are actually not for everybody`s reach. It`s expensive and not many people like how it tastes.

Hotaru was the number one fan of it, though. And like stated Hotaru was rich. She would be able to buy even all the crab brains in the shop.

Mikan decided to start looking for her. Fortunately, the dedication booth decided to change those to be caught. Mikan was safe since they were catching those with glasses on. Suddenly, Mikan saw Iinchou, their class representative, running from some laughing catchers.

_Poor Iinchou._

She continued looking for that certain girl. Mikan expected to find her holding another can of crab brains or any food at least.

What she saw, she really wasn`t expecting. At all.

Hotaru, yes she found, but she was with somebody else. She was with Ruka. Another surprise was that both of them were handcuffed to each other. Neither of them seemed to complain, nor look too excited. The feeling was probably mutual.

Mikan sighed. She`ll have to look for somebody to talk to.

~.~

_Flashback._

_Hotaru was on her way to the shop. Everybody was meowing. _

"_Baka." She kept saying on and on. _

_Her strategy was to buy as much crab as she could get her hands on, make a run for it, and drag Mikan to a place where catchers won`t bother them even if meows are coming out of their mouth or not._

_Unfortunately, before she even reached the shop, somebody must have caught her keeping quiet and sneaky._

"_Aw crap." Hotaru looked at the person that caught her. "Weren`t you the one that caught Mikan yesterday?"_

_The girl looked at her and thought hard. "Oh! Do you mean Natsume Hyuuga`s wife?" She had a smug look on her face, like she wanted to laugh but she also wanted to rip his wife into pieces for some reason._

"_Yes, her." Hotaru said. "That means I`m getting married."_

_When Hotaru reached the booth, she saw the guy she was about to be married to. It was Ruka Nogi. What a coincidence._

_End of flashback._

~.~

Out of pure loneliness, Mikan decided to do something productive or at least talk to a person while waiting for Hotaru`s marriage to "end."

She decided to look for somebody that she knew was alone at that moment. Mikan wasn`t very sociable to other people except to those who she really is close with. She decided to look for that person where she guessed was a spot that he would like. Natsume didn`t really like noise too much.

Ah there, she found him. He was reading his favorite manga under the shade of a tree. The place was far away from all the chaos that came from the fair. It was behind the food stalls so the smell of food lingered in their noses but it was far away that no catchers won`t bother looking for preys there.

As Natsume saw her walking towards him, he knew he was the point of her coming there since nobody else was around.

"What are you doing here, polka?" Natsume asked, not even looking up from what he was reading.

"Do not call me that." Mikan said, trying to add a little danger to her voice. To her dismay, it just sounded so fake and not scary at all.

He just laughed at her obviously trying hard voice. "I`ll call you whatever I want to." He then lay down on the grass on his back and placed the manga to cover his eyes. Probably, he was about to sleep.

Natsume was drifting to sleep when a certain brunette disturbed him and took a peek at his face by uncovering his head. Under the manga was a very annoyed expression that also looked to be shocked with all the sudden sunlight.

"What?" He spat out.

"Why are you like that?" Mikan asked, trying to sound innocent. With that, she was actually more believable.

"Like what?"

"You know," She looked at his face but he didn`t have an idea painted on his expression. "Why are you so cold to me? I mean, I didn`t do anything wrong, right?"

"Nothing." Natsume simply answered and covered his eyes again. He really wanted to doze off.

She really wanted to know the answer, unfortunately.

"Tell me or I use my alice on you." Mikan said, straightforwardly. Besides, having several alices were quite an advantage at some points. Okay, a lot of points.

Mikan heard Natsume slightly laugh under the book. "I didn`t know how sly of a devil you could be." He said.

"Of course." She said with a triumphant smile. She had him in her precious hands.

"Uh," Natsume was actually going to answer her question! What a miracle. "I don`t deserve to have a friend like you. I`m like the opposite of you as a person. I`m not a good person, at all."

Mikan lay on her back, just like Natsume. She started to get sleepy, too. "We really wouldn`t know." Mikan said. "Who knows, I may have killed a lot of people in the past year that I forgot." She patted his head and closed her eyes.

"Probably." Natsume said, finally reaching his sleep after some time. A minute or so after, Mikan follows.

They`re both sleeping, with heads almost touching. Nobody was getting to see whatever is happening to them. They were protected by Mikan`s barrier.

Looks like the alice is useful in your personal life, too.

**They`re sleeping beside each otherrrrr. :"D Lol. Hope you liked! Reviews. :)**

**xox,**

**Terence.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! :) Like promised, here`s the next chapterrrrr. :D I tried to make it more exciting and stuff. I don`t know why, but I really write chapters this long/short. Haha. I hope you guys don`t mind. :D I make up to them by posting the next chapter in a short time. :D Anyway, hope you like this. ;)**

**Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice ain`t mine.**

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><p><em>They`re both sleeping, with heads almost touching. Nobody was getting to see whatever is happening to them. They were protected by Mikan`s barrier.<em>

_Looks like the alice is useful in your personal life, too._

Chapter Eight.

An hour has already passed. Ruka and Hotaru were no longer handcuffed to each other. All they did while being stuck together was attend to all of Hotaru`s hunger. Ruka got dragged by Hotaru to different shops where she could satisfy that hunger. He didn`t complain, though. He was too busy thinking why Mikan wasn`t with Hotaru this time.

Currently, they`re trying to look for their best friends so they teamed up to create a search and rescue operation.

"Where could that baka be?" Hotaru asked, more to herself than Ruka.

Ruka didn`t respond, he just scanned the whole place quietly. Truly, there were no signs of them. _Maybe they went back to the dorms?_ _I doubt, Natsume won`t go anywhere with a girl._

They continued searching for them until 30 minutes have passed. "No where in sight."

"Maybe they`re having their honeymoon." Koko suddenly appeared along with Kitsuneme. He had a smug look on his face, as if imagining what they could be doing.

**Baka! Baka! Baka!**

He got a well-deserved hit from Hotaru`s baka gun. She just rolled her eyes at him and rode her flying swan together with Ruka.

_What if they really are having their honeymoon?_ Hotaru asked herself. _As if._ She shook her head as if trying to get the image out of her mind.

~.~

It was already getting dark. Sunset was almost near. Mikan was having a nice sleep. Nightmares weren`t bothering her at this time. Probably because she was relaxed since Natsume had a calm aura while sleeping. While awake, not so calm.

She was awakened by continuous coughing. It sounded like it was from Natsume. The coughing was rough and loud. Mikan sat up to see what was happening.

"Natsume." Mikan`s eyes widened to see him in pain. "Are you okay?"

He tried to stop his coughing and breathed hard. "Yeah. Nevermind me."

"How will I not mind you? Are you sick? Are you hurting?"

"No."

"The truth."

"Don`t mind it."

And so she did. Even though it was against her will, it was obvious that Natsume didn`t want to talk about it. She didn`t want to pry on the topic, thinking he might just leave her alone. She still wanted to talk to him.

Mikan knew Hotaru was now free but she was reluctant to get up and find her. She was comfortable being here, with Natsume. But nobody would ever know that. She placed a barrier around them since she knew he also liked being alone. So much people would try and become close to him but he would always push them away.

Good thing he isn`t doing that to Mikan right now. Little did Mikan know, he also felt comfortable with her by his side. Well, not really side but close to him.

Natsume sat against the tree while Mikan did the same, but facing the other directions. If another person saw it, it was like they were resting their backs behind each others, a tree in their middle. Damn tree.

Mikan thought of another topic.

"Ne, Natsume. Did you know Ruka got caught?"

"Ruka?" He said, his attention was caught by the name of his friend.

"Mhm." Mikan said, wanting to keep the topic going. "Guess what booth."

"Marriage booth."

"How did you know! Are you a mind reader or something?"

"No, you`re just predictable." He said. Natsume wanted to see Mikan`s face while he came up with the comeback. But he wouldn`t dare move an inch just to look at her.

"Did you know –" She was cut off by Natsume.

"No, I don`t. But I`m pretty sure you`re going to say it anyway."

"Natsume. Don`t cut on people`s sentences!" Mikan was waiting for him to talk but he just remained quiet. She took it as a sign to continue. "Anyway. He got married to Hotaru."

"So that`s why you came here and bothered me."

He was still being cold to her. Truthfully, he didn`t want to act like this to her. He wanted to talk to her nicely and see her smile all the time. Teasing her from time to time won`t hurt, too. But Natsume didn`t want to drag somebody like her into his darkness. He didn`t want anybody to get hurt because of him. That`s why he kept pushing her away. But at some rare times like these, he didn`t try and push her away too much. His effort to become cold was at the least.

There was silence after that. Natsume and Mikan were now facing the same direction, watching to sunset. The horizon turned orange. Clouds became dark since they were against the light. The scene was just spectacular.

The silence was deafening to Mikan. She didn`t like being too quiet. So she decided to break the silence.

"I never got to thank you." She said. Talk about completely random.

"For what?" He asked even though he already knew the answer to it.

"For saving me, duh." Mikan said, remembering the time the doctor told her who saved him. "If you never did that, I would not have met friends like you and I wouldn`t have found Hotaru again. If you didn`t save me, I wouldn`t have been able to experience this awesome fair."

"And you wouldn`t get married to the most handsome guy ever." He said with a smirk.

"How conceited." She told him and rolled her eyes. Despite doing it, she still blushed. She did get married to a pretty handsome guy.

"Don`t think about it, come to think about it, saving you was worth it." Natsume said. Mikan gasped at the words worth it. He just gave himself away. "Y-you turned out to be an alice anyway." He immediately covered up his slip up.

"Ah. Yeah. Anyway, I still want to thank you." Mikan was as stubborn as ever. She opened her bag and scrambled to find what she was going to use for her plan. Natsume was curious what that noise was but before he could even turn around, Mikan was moving to face him already.

"What`s that?" Natsume was referring to the piece of paper Mikan was writing on.

"Ssh! Let me concentrate." Mikan said while furiously writing. Natsume took a peek, slightly tilting his head to look. Mikan knew what he was doing and pushed his head away. Her hand was warm. Natsume liked the feeling but Mikan let go of his head and went back to writing.

Once she was done, she took a look at her work. It seemed good enough. Mikan then knelt properly in front of him. She took the piece of paper in her hands and offered it to Natsume.

"What is it?"

"It`s a wish coupon." Natsume took the paper and looked at its contents.

_**WISH COUPON.**_

_This is to certify that the person holding this can ask for Mikan Sakura one wish that she promises to fulfill._

_Valid for only one (1) time._

Natsume`s lips twitched into a slight smile when he thought of what he could use it for.

"Uh, thanks." He folded the piece of paper and placed it in his pocket. When his hand was in his pocket, he suddenly felt a soft, small item. He remembered what he originally bought it for. He took it out and in his hands was the teddy bear he bought while he was still handcuffed with Mikan.

"Oh." Mikan said after seeing what he was holding.

"Why?" Natsume noticed her sudden sinking of energy.

"You haven`t given that yet." She said, in a sad voice.

Natsume realized why she was sad and smirked. She was so dense. "Yeap, seems I haven`t."

Mikan wanted to become cheerful again, so she decided to change the topic.

"Hm, so."

Natsume was twirling the teddy bear in his hands, thinking of ways to give it. "So?

"Why did you save me?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don`t you." Natsume grinned, looking at her eyes directly. Mikan blushed fifty shades of red.

"Oh just answer my question." Mikan said.

"What if I don`t want to?"

"I`ll force you to." Major de javu.

"Do you always to that? Intimidate people to spill by threatening to use your alice?" Natsume asked, remembering the last time she did the same.

"Only on you." Mikan admitted. "So, answer my question."

Natsume nodded. What happened surprised Mikan. She wasn`t able to speak or react. The only reaction that came from her was the vanishing of her barrier. Natsume saw the look on her face. She was stunned to hear it.

With Mikan`s barrier lost, Hotaru was able to find them.

_They weren`t here a while ago?_ Hotaru thought to herself. She went to a dumb-struck Mikan and pull her out of the scene.

~.~

It was the ending of the fair. There was a concert from in-house bands of Alice Academy. After that were fireworks. Mikan was still dumb-struck. Hotaru was getting worried. Was she paralyzed or something?

"Hey, Mikan." Hotaru said, pointing the baka cannon. "Mikan."

"What?" Mikan asked, still with the same blank expression on her face.

"What the heck happened to you? Did that Natsume do anything?" Hotaru asked. She was suiting herself for full battle if ever he did.

"No, it`s-it`s nothing." She managed to stutter.

The students were swaying to the beat of the music, some were dancing, while others were laughing and talking about the events of the fair. Everything seemed so peaceful. Except for Mikan that is.

Her heart was pounding heavily and thoughts were rushing to her mind.

She was remembering what had just happened.

_Flashback._

"_So, answer my question." Mikan said._

"_I think…" Natsume was still hesitating on whether to tell her or not. "I think… I may just like you."_

_End of flashback._

Mikan shuddered at the memory. Her whole face turned red. She had no idea what to say. She kept recalling those words. _"I think I may just like you."_ Over and over again did those words repeat in her head.

Fireworks started to burst in the air, her eyes followed the bright lights but her stares were vacant. What had her attention was the thing in her hands. It was a little orange teddy bear. The bear Natsume bought for a special someone. That special someone just turned out to be her.

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><p><strong>Woooooooooo. Did you blush like my cousin did when she first read this? HAHA. Thank you, OYYES for all your support. ;) Thank you to all those who review too. I love you all! :D Reviews keep me motivated to write all the time. :D Review this chapter if you don`t mind? ;)<strong>

**xoxox,**

**Tereence.**


	9. Chapter 9

**HELLOOOO. :) I`m back with another chapterrr. :D Sorry if I took long to update. :'( I just started my junior year of high school and darn is it stressful. LOL. But I will try my best to finish all the homework and give myself some time to write chapters for all of you. :) Mhm. Hope you like this chapterr. :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

_Mikan shuddered at the memory. Her whole face turned red. She had no idea what to say. She kept recalling those words. "I think I may just like you." Over and over again did those words repeat in her head._

_Fireworks started to burst in the air, her eyes followed the bright lights but her stares were vacant. What had her attention was the thing in her hands. It was a little orange teddy bear. The bear Natsume bought for a special someone. That special someone just turned out to be her._

Chapter Nine.

The Alice Academy School fair has finally come to an end. Everybody had their share of memorable moments. Those moments ranged from getting caught to being nauseous because of the fast rides. Students still talked about it after two days. All around the middle school division, talks about who married who we buzzing. Girls gossiped about their boys. Boys bragged about their girls.

But for Mikan, the most memorable moment for her happened away from the fair grounds. Specifically, she kept replaying the scene under the shade of the tree behind the food stalls.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Oh just answer my question." Mikan said._

"_What if I don`t want to?"_

"_I`ll force you to." Major de javu._

"_Do you always to that? Intimidate people to spill by threatening to use your alice?" Natsume asked, remembering the last time she did the same._

"_Only on you." Mikan admitted. "So, answer my question."_

"_I think…" Natsume was still hesitating on whether to tell her or not. "I think… I may just like you."_

_He held out his hand and Mikan saw the teddy bear. He was giving it to her. "I bought it for you, my special someone._

_END OF FLASHBACK._

Today was the beginning of regular classes. Their subjects got disrupted because of fair preparations and the actual fair itself.

_He`s still not here._ Mikan thought to herself.

Of course, she was referring to none other than Natsume Hyuuga.

They last saw each other when he told her he likes her. Mikan hasn`t seen him ever since. Well, it has only just been two days. Besides, Mikan only sees him in class, so how else would she get to meet with Natsume when they don`t have class? _Common sense, Mikan._

Apparantly, Mikan found herself looking for that raven-haired boy with crimson eyes. It wasn`t her usual self to be concerned about him but she couldn`t stop looking around to see if he already came in.

After one look around, nope, Natsume still wasn`t present.

She was beginning to loose hope that he`ll come to class today. Hotaru noticed her attitude.

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_

Mikan did nothing but look up.

"What wrong with you today?" Hotaru demanded an answer.

"It`s nothing."

Hotaru rolled her eyes. "Obviously, _that_ isn`t nothing. Spill it.

Mikan contemplated on whether to tell her or not. She was about to give her a clue but Hotaru beat her to it.

"Did Natsume have anything to do with it?" Hotaru asked, immediately. Before Mikan could even answer, Hotaru pulled out different weapons from her bag. She got ready for war. Talk about going into conclusions.

Mikan tried to act like it wasn`t the case. "What makes you think it`s him?" She spoke the safest, most neutral statement. One that does not say yes or no. She was still distracted by what Hotaru was holding. "Please put those away." Mikan told Hotaru since she continued arming up.

Hotaru just nodded but didn`t put the weapons away. She just stopped pulling out new ones. "It`s because I saw you with him. You were staring blankly at space." Hotaru pointed out. "Obviously, something happened. Because when I left you to buy crab brains, you were somewhat normal. Wait, no, not normal. You were Mikan."

"What`s that supposed to mean?" She noticed Hotaru`s description of her. "You mean I`m not normal?"

"Baka," was all Hotaru said. Before they could continue arguing, the front door of the classroom opened. Mikan`s heart beat faster and she looked up, expecting to see Natsume. Much to her dismay, it was just Narumi-sensei. Her hear suddenly fell on the floor.

_What is wrong with me today?_

Narumi entered the room and tried to get the class to settle down. Everybody refused since the bell still hasn`t rung to signal the beginning of the day`s lessons. Narumi just sighed and sat down to wait for five minutes.

Mikan went back to her reminiscing. Hotaru left her alone, seeing as she couldn`t get an answer from her. Mikan sighed and just did advanced reading to pass the time.

Five minutes have passed and the bell rang. The students went back to their seats, without much complain. When everybody was already seated and Narumi was in front of his students, the back door opened harshly.

Once again, Mikan`s heart went into a frenzy. She looked back to find the guy she`s been looking and waiting for the entire morning.

In came Natsume, in his middle school uniform. His raven hair was messy but it was a part of his personality. His crimson eyes didn`t look around. His gaze was fixed on his seat. Hands in his pocket and looking so carefree. Narumi called out his name but he didn`t even bother answering.

He passed by Mikan and she could swear he looked up a bit to look at her before he went to his seat.

Mikan`s heart still didn`t stop its overload. It was beating much faster than normal. She fought the urge to take a glance at the boy who just entered. It took all her self-control to do so. She distracted herself and focused on the blabbering that was coming out of Narumi`s mouth.

~.~

Once Natsume sat down, his heart was still fluttering. He saw the way Mikan gaped at him when he entered. Natsume couldn`t help but smirk at the thought she was staring at him. While classes were ongoing, he sneaked a few glances at the brunette. _She looks so tense._ He thought. _I wonder what`s going on in her mind._

Unknown to him, Mikan was also wondering the same thing about him.

~.~

The day went by pretty much like how it started. Mikan and Natsume both felt tense. Everybody noticed it but they didn`t relate the two together. The two rarely talked. Actually, they didn`t talk to each other. Both of them felt very awkward after Natsume`s confession.

It was their last period of the day. Narumi was their teacher again, and it was homeroom. He had an announcement to them and asked them to listen carefully.

"Attention, class." Narumi said seriously. He didn`t speak to them about serious matters too much. He was the kind of teacher that liked jokes and play. "What I am about to tell you is new to us all so listen to it very carefully."

This caught the attention of the class, even Mikan`s blank expression suddenly lighted up. _More new stuff?_ Ever since her stay at the Academy, she kept experiencing new things like Alice Dodgeball, the fair, and now this. Even though her memory hasn`t went back yet, she didn`t feel like she was missing out on anything because of all the fun in Alice Academy.

Narumi cleared his throat. "This year, the principals have decided on a new event for the students. This is a friendly competition to see who has the best competitive alice." He paused to see the reaction of the students, they whispered to each other and were discombobulated. "I know it isn`t like the school to do competitions like these but this is to create a new way for all of us to practice offensive alices. We usually just use our alices for projects and stuff but nowadays, Alices are being targeted. So you, students, have to learn how to defend yourselves."

He, himself, didn`t like the idea of the competition. But he had nothing to do since it was organized by none other than the principals.

A student raised his hand. "Sensei, the principal students and those in the DA class will win it, obviously. So what`s the point of all of us joining?"

"Well, they aren`t allowed to participate. So everybody, apart from them, will have the chance to show off your abilities."

"Are we going to be graded for this?" Another student asked.

"No." Narumi answered. After it, most of the students already said no to the idea of participating since it was just a waste of time and alice. His spirit didn`t falter though. "Did I tell you there was a prize to the person that wins this competition?" He had their attention once again.

"What is it?"

Narumi smiled. "Well, the person who wins this will receive 2, 500 rabbits and an all-expense paid 5-star dinner at Central Town."

Everybody`s reaction were the same. "Woaaaaaaaaaaaah."

Suddenly, all of them wanted to join.

"Now, now. I have to explain to you the mechanics of the game first." Narumi said. "The process will be through elimination. You will be matched up with a random alice that joins, if you lose, you`re out of the competition. If you win, you move up to another challenge. The objective of this is to get your opponent`s flag. Per game, you will be given a flag that you should protect at all costs. If you opponent gets a hold of it, you lose."

"It sounds fun!"

"I want to join."

Included in the people who want to join was Hotaru.

"But why?" Mikan asked her when Hotaru told her the desire to join.

"Money. Food. Money." Hotaru answered as if she was talking to a 2-year old.

"And why are you dragging me with you?"

"It`s all strategy." She explained. "You will defeat enemies for me, while I defeat enemies of mine. Then we go face to face in the championship, and you let me win."

It all sounds so Hotaru. "What do I get then?"

"Pride of getting into the championship." She didn`t look convinced. "Oh c`mon. Do it for me."

Mikan sighed. "Okay. I`ll join that stupid competition."

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><p><strong>LOL. What do you think of the idea of this competition? Who do you think will win? What is it for? bwahahaha. Stay tuned. :D Reviews are loved. ;)<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terenceee.**


	10. Chapter 10

**So. I am back with chapter ten! :D Thank you all for the reviews. :) I appreciated them. So... I made a long chapter for you guys! :D I hope you like this, dearies. :D**

**Special thanks to those who answered the question, what alice would you want. I used some, if you guys don`t mind. ;;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

* * *

><p>"<em>It`s all strategy." She explained. "You will defeat enemies for me, while I defeat enemies of mine. Then we go face to face in the championship, and you let me win."<em>

_It all sounds so Hotaru. "What do I get then?"_

"_Pride of getting into the championship." She didn`t look convinced. "Oh c`mon. Do it for me."_

_Mikan sighed. "Okay. I`ll join that stupid competition."_

Chapter Ten.

Mikan, being the good friend that she was, helped Hotaru to prepare for the competition. This meant her being used as no more than a dummy to Hotaru`s different inventions. She was almost beat up everyday after spending the time after class to train Hotaru`s offensive attitude. Mikan tried her best to cooperate with Hotaru. She didn`t really feel much pain anyway, due to her invincibility.

All she did was smile whenever Hotaru wins against her. They tried dueling each other and Mikan would always give the battle to Hotaru. She didn`t dare show Hotaru any of her dangerous alices.

The day of the competition has finally come. All the students didn`t stop talking about it. Students from Mikan`s class, together with her and Hotaru, all went to the battle arena together. The venue of the competition was set in the place wherein their Christmas Balls are done. It was Mikan`s first time to see it, so she was amazed when she saw the huge structure.

The inside of the hall was completely altered in order to fit the certain scenario. There were flags hanging from poles, stating different quotations on friendly competition yet striving for the best. It was all contradicting, but students didn`t stop amazing on those huge letters hanging. There was a stage front of the hall, there were empty seats and a podium for a speaker. The balconies inside overlooked the most exciting part of the whole room which were the battle mats. There were a total of ten mats laid out on the floor of the room. It was approximately the size of half a basketball court. Yes, it was quite big.

These were the locations wherein the competitors can use their alices to a full advantage. Like karate battles, if a challenger steps out of the mat or is forced to, he or she loses. There were hundreds of students on the balconies, waiting for the matches to begin while other students were in front of the stage. Those who are not part of the competition weren`t allowed on the first floor. But apparently, more than a hundred joined, so crowding was evident.

Hotaru and Mikan wow`ed at the transformation of the hall. It didn`t look like a place wherein parties like the Christmas Ball would take place. The aura of the place was so upbeat and competitiveness was all over the place.

"Students, settle down." A voice rang throughout the whole arena. "The principals have arrived and wanted to say a few words.

As if on cue, students went up the stage and sat on the once empty chairs. They were then followed by the High School Principal, Middle School Principal, and the Elementary School Principal.

The Elementary school principal stepped up the podium. He was the one to host this entire event and make it possible. He looked like a kid. Period. He had black, cropped hair and was in formal wear. He was completely dressing up against how he "naturally" looked. The principal stood still for a while, his eyes scanned the students` faces, as if he was looking for someone in particular. His audience didn`t dare make noise, though.

While the principal was keeping quiet, Mikan had the chance to observe those who had come up to the stage. In the middle of the stage were the two other principals. They had a poker face on, just like those that the students had too. Apart from them were their principal students. They had the privelage of watching the competition in such high place.

Mikan`s eyes stopped scanning when she saw Natsume sitting there. He had a blank look on his face, as if he would rather be in the most boring place in the world than where he currently was. Mikan`s heart beat faster again. It was like that until words came out from the principal`s mouth.

"Thank you all for joining." He had a deep voice, one you wouldn`t expect to come from that body of his. "The person who wins this may become like these precious students in the stage." He referred to the principal students, some were his "favorites." A smirk went to his face. "Good luck to everybody. And may the best Alice win."

The crowd erupted in applause, all excited for the incoming competition. Some were excited for the prizes while others were excited for the feeling you get when you have conquered everybody.

As the principal sat down, a large screen appeared above the stage. The attention was centered to the different matches and schedules. It was in the form of brackets. The winner of one match will move up and compete with another winner.

"Apparently," Hotaru suddenly spoke to Mikan. "We`re in different brackets." She pointed out. It was true. There were two main brackets and they were each on different ones. The only time that Mikan and Hotaru get the chance to go against each other is in the finals. This is exactly what Hotaru wanted.

"Perfect." Hotaru said with a smile. She then turned to Mikan. "Okay, you know the plan. Extinguish all competitors and give the final match to me. But don`t make it too obvious or we`ll get disqualified."

Mikan nodded. She didn`t want the fame or money anyway. She only wanted three things. One, to find out what she forgot in the past year. Two, to make awesome friends in Alice Academy. And three, one raven-haired boy she never expected to want.

~.~

It wasn`t Mikan`s match yet so she wanted to watch how other games went. She`s interested to see how different alices would be used to get the red flag.

There were matches that ended fast. Some alices trumped others, obviously. Otheres lasted long enough to distract Mikan.

"Hotaru Imai versus Akihiro Miya." The voice echoed in the noisy room. Mikan`s eyes suddenly drifted to where Hotaru`s first match was. People who are in the competition get to enjoy a closer view to the action than those in the balconies.

Before the competition starts, the host isn`t allowed to announce what the students` alices are. They could suddenly surprise their opponent. Some are famous enough that their alices are widespread and well-known, like Hotaru`s.

Hotaru was ready for all types of alices. Around her were small inventions but could do a great deal of damage. She pressed one botton and suddenly, her backpack turned into a shield against anything. It was transparent so nobody saw it. Akihiro suddenly vanished. _Ah. Teleportation._ Both Hotaru and Mikan knew what his alice was. He appeared behind Hotaru and was about to snatch her flag but then waves of electricity went surging throughout his body. It was an effect of Hotaru`s invention. When Akihiro was completely out of guard, Hotaru used an invented clamp to grab the red flag, making her victorious in her first match.

"Congratulations, Hotaru!" Mikan applauded her.

"Thank you baka."

"Rokuro Yoshida versus Mikan Sakura."

Mikan obviously knew who this person was. He was also in the middle school division and he has a not so useful alice but a very rare one. He is the alice who can say stupid puns but people who hear them would not stop laughing for some weird reason.

"Ah yes." Mikan tapped her foot and went up the arena. Unknown to almost everyone, the sight of Mikan entering her first match interested many people on the stage. They were Natsume, ESP, and HSP. They were a bit more interested in her than all the others.

When the match officially begun, Mikan just stood there, looking to see what will happen. She knew she was unaffected by this but she wanted to show everybody how it is.

"_Nee, chanto ofuro haitteru?"_ Which meant _Hey, have you been taking a bath?_ It was could somehow be translated to _Do you take baths with your sister?_ Mikan didn`t see any inch of humor in this. She found it plainly a stupid pun. But the host thinks otherwise, he was gripping his stomach so hard in the pain from the laughter. Mikan sighed. She didn`t want to cause any stomach pain to anybody though.

She decided to give him a taste of his own medicine, using words against him. "Laugh. Hard." She said. Upon hearing it, Rokuro could not stop laughing. He was laughing so hard he was on the floor. Mikan took it as a chance to come closer and take out the red flag. She was victorious.

~.~

Everybody was amazed by her win. She won it so flawlessly. Mikan waited for her next match, Hotaru seems to be going well. She just ended her second match against a girl with a telekinesis alice. She tried to watch other matches as well. Her attention was caught by Takeo, a boy with super speed, vs Koji, a boy with mind erasing alice. Takeo was running circles around Koji. And with a snap of a finger, Takeo stopped running. He forgot why he was running in the first place. Koji took it as a chance to suddenly take a hold of the red flag, leaving Takeo confused.

Mikan was impressed. She didn`t expect Koji to win that, and how he would use his alice against Takeo. Students were clearly creative with their alices. Mikan`s name was called, signaling her of her second match. It was against Mari, a girl with the hair alice. She had the same alice as one substitute teacher in the elementary division.

When they had got up the mat, the match began. As soon as it started, Mari`s hair was suddenly wrapped around her, protecting her from anything. Then, hair shot out of the "cocoon" and was aiming towards Mikan`s red flag. Good thing was, Mikan had a fast reflex, and before Mari`s hair even got a hold of her flag, everything stopped moving. With her mind, Mikan was controlling the hair. In a slight second, the cocoon broke and Mari`s flag was moving towards Mikan. Mari couldn`t do anything about it though. In a few seconds, Mari`s red flag was in Mikan`s hands, making her victorious once more.

There were less people than the start of the morning. Some who lost, sulked and turned their backs away from watching the matches while others stayed in the balconies to observe. With that being said, there were plenty Mikan fans already, seeing as how she glided through these matches. There were Hotaru fans as well.

Mikan hasn`t even broken a sweat.

~.~

Half of the day has been done and most competitors have already lost. Mikan had another match, against Koji, the mind erasing boy from earlier in the day. She was waiting to see if her nullification will work against him. She knew his strategy already, but she wouldn`t be sure if she`ll forget it or not. She tends to forget a lot of stuff nowadays.

They were facing each other, staring at each other's eyes, looking to see who will make the first move. Koji`s hand was raised and he snapped. Mikan expected to suddenly forget something but nothing happened. Her memory was still in tact, well, sort of. She still forgot the whole year before. Koji snapped again, he thought he didn`t use his alice, but nothing happened still. Mikan grinned. Like what she did with Rokuro, she gave Koji a taste of his own medicine. She snapped, imitating him, but the effects weren`t the same. With her snap, the flag went flying straight to her.

Once again, she was victorious. She shall only lose to Hotaru, she promised.

There was one girl, that had the demon alice. Whenever she showed her alice to her opponents, they would run away and lose. So she always moved up. Now, she was against Hotaru.

The girl didn`t waste any time and suddenly changed to her other self. She had a fiery red aura around her, her eyes changed into a dark shade of black, everything about her screamed terrifying. Hotaru just stared at her, waiting what she could do next. She wasn`t scared of it though. The girl just stayed like that, doing nothing. Just what Hotaru had expected. Hotaru then used one of her inventions to suddenly snatch the demon girl`s flag. It was as easy as that.

Both Hotaru and Mikan were in the semi-finals. Only one win away from going against each other. The two were quite a powerful duo indeed. Mikan was to come against Ayame, a high school student whom had the imagination alice. Just like Hotaru, she was in the technical ability class. She is able to create objects out of thin air.

Hotaru`s opponent will be the winner between Yuuki Fujimoto, a girl who can stop time, and Naomi Ikeda, a girl with the wish alice. Hotaru and Mikan watched their match so as to see who Hotaru will come against.

Yuuki was standing still, waiting for any sign of movement from Naomi. Naomi is known to have the alices of wishful thinking, meaning things which she wishes for, most of the time come true. Depending on how concentrated she is.

Naomi moved her hands, she was going to clasp them together. Then, after a second, her flag was gone. Nobody seemed to move close to her but Naomi`s flag was gone from her possession. Everybody was surprised. They looked around to see the red flag in Yuuki`s hands. But she didn`t seem to move an inch.

Everybody cheered for the winner. They were all quiet at first but when realization came upon them, they were all amazed. Even Hotaru was dumb-struck. But Mikan had a different reaction, she smiled and quietly said. "Interesting, very interesting."

~.~

Mikan and Ayame`s match started the same time Hotaru and Yuuki`s match did. So Mikan didn`t have a clue what was happening to her best friend. She was worried about Hotaru losing but Hotaru just hit her with her baka cannon saying "How dare you doubt me."

Mikan had decided her strategy. She was unsure of what Ayame was going to create so she decided to act upon things first. Before Ayame could even move, Mikan did what was best for her victory.

"Give me your flag." It`s as simple as that. She won and she was in the finals.

As she skipped towards Hotaru, she was expecting to see a smile on her best friend's face but rather, it was a grim one.

Mikan knew what it meant.

Revenge.

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><p><strong>I HOPE YOU LIKED THISSSSS! Like, yeahhhh. Lol. =)))) Reviews are super appreciated. May it be bad or good reviews, I will gladly accept it all. :D <strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**

**Maybe it`s time to say my real name? LOL.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hola. :) I am back with chapter 11. Seems like I am able to squish in writing my fanfic in my hectic schedule as a junior. LOL. =)))) I always love writing for my readers. :D Hope you all like this chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p><em>As she skipped towards Hotaru, she was expecting to see a smile on her best friend's face but rather, it was a grim one.<em>

_Mikan knew what it meant._

_Revenge._

Chapter Eleven.

_Mikan`s POV._

Hotaru had just lost to that Yuuki girl. And to think she was so determined to win this competition. I definitely have to avenge her loss. I won`t allow her to lose in vain. I will win for my best friend.

There were ten minutes before the final match starts. I had time to myself and rest for a while. In truth, under the powerful and fearless bravado I put through all my games, I was exhausted. I needed to go to the comfort room and get away from the crowd`s 'Congatulations' and 'Good Luck`s'.

While in the comfort room, I noticed nobody was around. With a deep breath, I sat down on one of the benches. I already had my game plan. Use my alices as much as I can to prevent the use of Yuuki`s alice.

Suddenly, there was a pain in my chest and I had to clutch myself so hard. The pain was excruciating. I bent down and felt tears on my eyes. Was it from the use of my alice? Did I go over the limit this time?

~.~

After five minutes of pain, the piercing of my chest finally ended. It was just in time for Hotaru to enter the room. Good thing she didn`t see what had just happened. But I was sweating bullets.

"You okay?" Hotaru asked me.

"Mhm." I`m fine now.

"You look weird." She said as she sat beside me. Hotaru placed her palm on my head. "You`re not sick, are you?"

I shook my head. I don`t want her to get worried. "Nervous."

"Ah." She said, understanding the situation in front of her. Actually, I wasn`t nervous. I was just feeling weak from a while ago. "Well, I know you`ve been hearing this since you won, but good luck."

Hotaru smiled which made me do the same. Her good luck was much more meaningful than others. I had expected her to be bitter on me but she didn`t.

"I`ll win it for you." I told her. I plan to give her whatever prize I get. Except the dinner, I want to enjoy that a little bit.

"Thanks." My best friend smiled.

~.~

As we walked out of the comfort room, there was a massive change in appearance. The battling grounds were a little more different than the last time I saw it. There was only one battle mat left. It was huge. There weren`t any random students running around downstairs now. They were all on the balcony, excited for what was to come.

I took a look around and saw Natsume. My heart beat faster again. Everytime I see those crimson eyes, I felt my legs go wobbly. I think he noticed my stare and smirked. He was still seated on the stage, together with the principal students.

Maybe there were perks on being a part of those students. He got to go outside the academy. If it weren`t for that, I wouldn`t have entered Alice Academy. I owe him, a lot.

The speaker called out my name then. "Mikan Sakura versus Yuuki Fujimoto."

As we were called, the two of us went up the platform. Everybody cheered for us with their howls and hoots. Those on the stage had a more refined action, which was only clapping. I took a peek at Natsume, he wasn`t doing anything. Well at least he didn`t look bored.

Yuuki and I met in the middle. We both shook each others hands but didn`t say a thing. As we turned our backs on each other, the host came out. "Okay, ladies, I want a clean fight. Ready, set, fight!"

As the host announced the beginning of the finals, the whole audience cheered. I wonder when she`ll make her move. I guess I should try her. I placed my hand up and like I expected, everything went silent. I saw from my eyes that everything around me had just paused. It was like I was in a movie. The crowd was frozen still, even the host was staring blanky. I decided not to move, watching my opponent closely.

Yuuki smiled a huge smile and words came out from her mouth. "Seems like I win all that prize money." She talked to herself and moved forward. She was a meter away from me when I decided to shock her with the most surprising news of her life.

"Sorry, but I`ll win this." I told her, in a soft yet authoritative voice.

Oh yes, I did surprise her, big time. She stood there, frozen for a while, probably wondering how I was able to talk.

"It cannot be. Even nullification won`t be able to prevent the stop of time." She said.

"Au contraire." I told her, "You don`t actually have the alice to stop time."

Once again, there was a huge sight of shock. "Then what do you call all this?"

I took a step forward, scaring her. She took a step back. "You didn`t stop the time. As you can see, you weren`t able to stop _my_ time. Time is universal, so if you are really able to control the time, I should be frozen now. But I`m not. What do you think is the explanation for that?"

She kept quiet. "You cannot stop time." I explained to her. "But, you do have a similar alice that has been mistaken to be preventing time to go. Nobody had ever figured it out since they believed in what you currently believe in. But let me put an end to your misery. You only have the ability to stop the people`s sense of time. Time is currently running, if you look at a watch, we`re actually taking time talking like this. People do not notice it since you have stopped their flow of time."

"Oh." It was all she said.

I nodded. "Now, let us end this. I don`t want a suspiciously long match. Give me your flag." I told her, more like commanding her with my alice.

She did what she was told of and once her flag was in my hands, I heard the cheer of the people. Then, they suddenly came quiet. Surprised on how I got a hold of her flag so suddenly. They wondered which alice of mine did it. It should have been the other way around.

The host came to me, with a mic. "How did you do it?" Everybody was still quiet.

I smiled at the people and the host. "Nullification." As if a puzzle piece has finally completed the puzzle, everybody understood and cheered. They were cheering for my victory. Hotaru went to me and hugged me tight.

"Congratulations!" She was squealing.

"Thank you." I smiled at her. Then, I felt a tug on my arm. It was Yuuki.

"Congratulations." Yuuki said, with all honestly. She was still surprised but she did accept her loss. "How did you know, by the way?"

"I watched your match with the girl with the wish alice. When you used your alice, everything stopped except for me and you."

Yuuki nodded and went away. Everybody was still cheering for me. I`m the best alice.

~.~

Third Person`s POV.

It was time for the awarding ceremony. The principals were shocked at what they saw unfolding before them. They didn`t get to watch too much. All they saw was at one second, Mikan was raising her hand, then another, the flag was in her hand. It was all so surprising.

The Elementary School Principal went down from the stage. He was the person that began this match so he is the one to give the reward. He went to the middle of where the final match took place. There, there was Mikan and Yuuki. The ESP was followed by one student, carrying two trophies.

The student handed the small trophy to Yuuki. The ESP didn`t seem too interested in her. His eyes was set on Mikan. He congratulated her with a hand shake.

"Thank you, sir." Mikan said, slightly shivering from the cold hand of the principal. Then, the trophy with the rabbits was in her hand. She was then crowded by her friends. Mikan looked around but the principal was gone.

Unknown to her, it was all a trap to lure her in.

~.~

As a prize for Mikan, she was going to eat out today. She was allowed to wear her casual clothes to the 5-star dinner in central town. Good thing for her, she was able to shop for clothes in Central Town before. When she came to Alice Academy, she had no belongings whatsoever. She just came with her alice, and her non-so-perfect memory.

She decided to wear a black and white tank top under a gray off-shoulder shirt. Her shirt was loose and said Reality. Mikan wore black shorts and black doll shoes. She looked decent, she affirmed. Her hair was down, her wavy brown hair flowing in her back. Mikan took one last look at the mirror and went out of her room.

Her friends were there to bring her to the limo that will bring her to the restaurant.

"Wow Mikan, you look amazing!" Iinchou told her.

"You look hot." Koko said. Hotaru`s baka cannon hit him. She was determined to bring her safely to her ride, without any perverted person touching her.

They all walked towards the main doors of the middle school dorms. While walking the halls, they came across Ruka and Natsume. They were in their sweats and yet still look gorgeous. Natsume had ruffled hair and was holding a bottle of water in his hands. When he looked up to see Mikan, he was turned on. She definitely looked hot.

Ruka cleared his throat at his best friend. "Nice outfit." Natsume said and walked away.

Mikan blushed at his compliment. Hotaru had to slightly push her in order to make her move. The other people didn`t hear what Natsume said since they were behind Hotaru and Mikan so they had no idea what was happening.

As they all reached the limo, Mikan bowed. "Thank you all for accompanying me. I apologize for not being able to bring you with me."

"It`s okay." Hotaru was the one that spoke for all of them. "Just don`t forget to bring us some Central Town delicacies."

Mikan smiled. "I won`t." She bid her final goodbyes and entered the limo to bring her to her trap.

~.~

When she entered the five-star restaurant, she was greatly amazed. It had a high ceiling, with chandeliers hanging down the ceiling. There was glass around the whole venue, looking over the whole Central Town. The restaurant was decorated with paintings and sculptures. The carpet was soft and classy. The tables were white, complete with porcelain plates and kitchen set. The whole restaurant had a French feel to it.

Mikan was directed to her table, beside the glass window. The sight was incredible. A waiter approached her. "Good evening. My name is Kenichi, and I will be your server for tonight. Congratulations on winning the competition. The Elementary School Principal has specifically chosen the menu for you. May I know what drink you would like?"

She was impressed. The venue and service was great, she hopes the food would be so to. "I would like Iced Tea please."

Kenichi bowed and went out of the scene. This gave Mikan the chance to look around more. The people eating in the restaurant were classy people. They didn`t all seem like alices, though. Maybe they did come here for the food. This place must be famous. There are some touches of alices around the place, too. Moving objects, flying objects, and a lot more.

Kenichi came back with a glass of iced tea on one hand, and her appetizer on the other. The plate had steamed mussels. Mikan enjoyed her appetizer and waited for the entrée.

After she finished her mussels, Kenichi came out with a plate of grilled filet mignon in a morel mushroom brandy creamy demi-glace. Mikan rated the whole dish according to presentation, it was a ten. After eating, she rated it a thousand.

"Delicious." Mikan said while eating her grilled beef. This prize was definitely to die for.

It was time for Mikan`s most favorite part of a meal, the dessert. In her plate was a slice of chocolate cake over coffee sauce and garnished with caramel and almonds. Caramel was Mikan`s favorite. It seems this meal was designed specifically for her. She enjoyed every dish.

While Mikan was eating, there were two figures that came to her. She noticed their presence and looked up. She was shocked to see the Elementary School Principal, with a black-haired man in an all-black suit. She has never seen him before but she felt terrified of all the controlling devices he had on.

"Seem like you are enjoying your food." The Elementary School Principal told her.

"Yes, I definitely am. Thank you for all of this." Mikan said, politely.

The Elementary School Principal smiled and sat down in front of Mikan. The man beside him remained standing. "I apologize to you."

She was confused. "How come?"

"It seems I have told some of my men to drop some truth serum in your drink."

Mikan`s eyes widened. This isn`t right. She took a look at her drink but it didn`t seem wrong to her. However, it cannot be a joke since the elementary school principal wouldn`t joke about this.

The person behind the Elementary School Principal spoke. "Truth serum is a potion that one of the students from the High School had made with his alice. It obliges the drinker to answer any question, despite how much he or she is against it. However, it will only make you answer one question, and one question only."

"What do you want?" All respect had been gone.

The Elementary School Principal chuckled. He reaches out to her and holds on to her chin. "I just want to know one thing. Do you have the stealing alice?" He asked, straight to the point.

It was true, even though how much Mikan would like to refuse answering the question, she felt as if anything that will go out her mouth would answer the question asked to her.

_Mother,_ Mikan thought to herself. _I apologize. But I cannot do anything about this._ Mikan apologized to her mother, whom she promised to that she won`t tell of her alice.

"Yes." Mikan admitted.

This earned a shrewd smile from the Elementary School Principal. "Thank you for answering my question." He stood up and walked away. While he was walking away, he whispered, more to himself. "I got all I needed."

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><p><strong>Ooooh. What do you think is going to happen? :O Lol. If you have any suggestions on what you want in this fanfic, feel fre to message me or just write it in the review. :D If I put it in the story, I won`t forget to give credit. =) Revies. :)<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello, my friends! :) I`m sorry if updating took a long time. Stressing out with school and stuff. Lol. :) Anyway, for the obvious, here`s another chapter for ya`ll. :D Oh, I also changed my pen name. :D I was previously known as .casanova. :D Anyway, sorry for the babbling. I bet you`re itching for this author`s note to end so you can read now. =)))**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p><em>This earned a shrewd smile from the Elementary School Principal. "Thank you for answering my question." He stood up and walked away. While he was walking away, he whispered, more to himself. "I got all I needed."<em>

Chapter Twelve.

The limo brought Mikan back to the dorms. It was already late but Hotaru was there, waiting for her best friend and anxious for all her stories. As Mikan went out of the limo, she faked a smile and waved at her. Hotaru smiled as she saw running towards where she was.

"Hey baka." It was her usual greeting. "Where`s my food?"

Mikan laughed. She always wants food. "Right here." She raised a paper bag containing leftovers from the restaurant. Mikan was worried about the ESP coming so she wasn`t able to finish her dessert. And who else would be better for it than Hotaru?

That night, as Mikan lie on her bed, memories of the dinner kept flashing in her mind.

_The Elementary School Principal chuckled. He reaches out to her and holds on to her chin. "I just want to know one thing. Do you have the stealing alice?" He asked, straight to the point._

"_Yes." Mikan admitted._

Mikan was worried of what was to come next. Troubles kept coming to her life. Before all this fuss, she remembered living with her grandpa and mother, and then the next thing she knows is waking up in a hospital bed. It was all weird for her. One mystery after another.

When will everything be cleared up for her?

~.~

The following day, Mikan decided to act as if nothing had happed last night. All she was going to tell her friends was about the delicious dinner and nothing else. As she entered the classroom, everybody crowded around her asking about all the details. Even Natsume and Ruka were interested on what happened.

She smiled at all of them and patiently answered all their questions.

The class begun when Narumi entered the room. All of the students went back to their seats and pretended to listen to whatever Narumi is talking about.

"After the disturbance of classes due to the Alice Competition, we shall have regular classes from now on."

This earned whining and complaining from everybody. They didn`t want to experience hell and stress again. But whatever, they can`t escape it though.

Narumi lit up, remembering something. "Ah yes, I forgot to congratulate Mikan!" He clapped his hands and the class followed. "What a splendid performance."

Mikan bowed to all of them, still with a smile. "Thank you everybody for your support."

"Okay, now back to what we were talking about." Narumi continued. "Today will be alice-based classes!"

Mikan knew about alice-based classes. Every since she came to Alice Academy, she`s had one class with the Somatic Class where Narumi was the teacher. She was excited since she`ll be able to spend time with other people with pheromones, see how the girls drool for Yuri-senpai, and see what activities were set for today.

But before the class was dismissed to their different classes, the front door of the classroom opened. Entered was a tall black-haired man with a white mask on his face. He had black clothes, black nail polish, and black high-heeled shoes. This man was indeed very creepy.

As Mikan looked up to see who came in, shivers went through her spine. She knew this man. He was the man with the Elementary School Principal whom has tricked her into telling them about her Stealing Alice.

"What are you doing here, Rei?" Narumi asked him. _Ahh. So his name is Rei._ Mikan thought to herself, still afraid.

"I have come here to pick up a student." He said, in a low, dangerous voice.

"Ahh, yes." Narumi said, thinking it was Natsume.

Natsume was about to stand up since he knew he was the only one that Persona knew. "Mikan Sakura." Persona said. This shocked everybody, including Narumi.

_What would he want with Mikan?_ Both Narumi and Natsume thought.

There was a small smile on Persona`s face as he spotted Mikan in the middle of the classroom. She stood up without saying anything. She actually had already expected this. After the previous night, she knew she would not go on with her life in Alice Academy, unseen by the administration. Mikan knew action had to be done since they found about her alice.

She walked towards Persona, leaving her class with dumbstruck faces. Persona closed the door behind him and started to walk. Mikan followed him, keeping quiet because she was afraid people would find out.

As they finally got out of the middle school division classrooms, Persona walked towards the forest. Mikan stopped a few meters away from him. Knowing his companion was just standing, Persona decided to turn around and look at Mikan.

"What do you want now, Rei?" She asked with cold eyes. She referred to him the same way Narumi had.

Persona chuckled. "First, I prefer being called Persona." His voice kept giving Mikan goosebumps. "And to answer your question, you have been moved to the Dangerous Ability Class."

"But why?" Mikan asked, though she already knew the answer.

"The Elementary School Principal believes you will be useful. Your alice, I mean."

Mikan took a step back. "What makes you think I will allow myself to give my power to you?"

Persona took his mask off, revealing his brown eyes. He took five steps to the nearby plant. "You don`t want to loose any more happy memories, would you?" Persona threatened and placed his hand on a purple flower. Once the flower felt his touch, it wilted and was blown away with the wind.

"H-how did you do that?" Mikan was scared and shocked. "D-did you just kill the rose?"

"Indeed." Persona turned around and walked towards the location he was bound for. "If you don`t want to see it in a more bigger scale, I suggest you continue walking."

Mikan recalled the purple flower and its death. Instantly, Hotaru came into her mind and it pushed her to run after Persona.

~.~

After minutes of silently walking, the two reached a gazebo in the middle of the woods. It was quite a big gazebo and had a dangerous aura surrounding it. The structure seemed to fit perfectly into the setting of the dark forest. Inside, there were several students talking to each other. Mikan was surprised to see students whom she expected to get lost in this place.

"Welcome to your new class." Persona said before stepping foot on the structure. Once he entered, the chaos inside suddenly stopped and all the people became uniform. They first looked at Persona, then turned their gazes to look at the girl beside him.

Mikan recognized some of them, some students were from the middle school division, while others were from high school and even one was from the elementary division.

"This is Mikan Sakura." Persona introduced her. "She has just been moved to this class due to her power."

A little boy was the first to come near her. He was about eight years old, and had light grey hair.

"Onee-chan." He said as he tugged unto her sleeve. "I`m Youichi."

Mikan smiled at the little child. "Hello there. I`m Mikan."

After so, Nobara, Rui, and Hayate introduced themselves to her. Only Hajime stayed glued to his place. While they were all getting to know each other, Natsume came through the woods, panting heavily. It was obvious he just ran.

When he entered the gazebo, he had a furious look on his face. "What does this mean?" Natsume shouted at Persona. "Is this another bait for me to do your missions?" The other members kept quiet. Among this class, only Natsume was rebellious on doing missions for the school. The others didn`t complain much.

"Tsk. Tsk." Persona stood up and faced Natsume. "Don`t be so conceited, she really has been transferred to this class."

"What?" Natsume stopped dead in his tracks. Persona looked over to Mikan, now ignoring Natsume.

"Tell him." Persona demanded. With the looks of it, Mikan was hesitating. "Remember, bigger scale." Persona reminded her of their previous conversation.

Mikan nodded. "I have the stealing alice."

Everybody went silent, Nobara gasped, and Persona chuckled. "See how amazing she is?"

Natsume took a step towards Mikan. He stopped a meter from her. "You do?" Mikan said nothing and just nodded. Her hopes went down and went to sit down for a break from all the stress. Natsume, left standing there, sighed and followed Mikan to her seat.

"Why didn`t you tell the truth about your alice?" Natsume asked her, just looking at his hands.

"I promised my mom." Mikan admitted. "It was the last thing I remember."

He noticed Mikan shaking. "Are you okay?" He asked her, sincerely.

"I`m nervous." She told him. "Nervous for what is to come."

Natsume forced Mikan to look at him by holding onto her chin. Once she laid eyes on him, she blushed furiously.

"Don`t worry." He said in a comforting voice and let go of her chin. "I`m here for you." As he said it, he looked away, trying to hide his face from Mikan. She was left speechless and stared at the opposite direction.

Persona had their attention when he stepped in the middle of the gazebo. Today, there weren`t any missions assigned to them so they just get to practice their alices.

"As a friendly gesture to our new member, I want you to show her your alice." He demanded them all. The class nodded and went to the center behind Persona, except for Natsume.

"Kura no kami." Persona was referring to Natsume, whom remained seated beside Mikan.

"It`s okay." Mikan said, trying to defend him. "I already know his alice."

And so the other members showed her their alices. First was the youngest of them, Youichi Hijiri. As the rest stepped away from him, evil spirits came out of him, following his command. Mikan applauded for him, making him smile and stop the ghosts. He went to Mikan and sat down in between her and Natsume.

"Thanks, Onee-chan." Mikan smiled at him and once again looked up. It was Nobara`s turn. She sat in the middle of the gazebo and ice suddenly went berserk around her. She was freezing almost everything until fire surrounded her ice. It melted and Nobara went back to her usual self.

Mikan was surprised at what had just happened. "Gomen." Nobara was speaking. "I can`t control my alice just yet."

Followed after Nobara were Hayate, whom showed her his wind manipulation, and Hajime showed his. Rui wasn`t able to boast about his since there was nobody to curse.

Once everybody was done, Persona had an idea. "Face-off."

"What?"

"Since it was an alice competition that got Mikan here and gave her the title of greatest alice, why not see if she really is the greatest one?" Persona said, clapping his hands. Mikan wasn`t in the position to complain anymore, worried about her friends. She stood up and went to the center. She was to first face off with Youichi, that young, sweet boy whom she instantly adored.

But this wasn`t the time for her to act generous towards him. She wanted to prove her worth.

Once Youichi`s ghosts appeared to attack her, she instantly had to do something. Mikan decided to do what she did to get her to this position. "Stop." She demanded and instantly, the evil spirits were gone.

The next two matches with Nobara and Hayate went on this way, too. They were instantly under Mikan`s control whenever she used her alice. Persona was disappointed. He wanted to see more alices from her, this is the alice she usually saw. And so he devised a plan for Mikan to be forced to show another alice.

After Rui, failing to use his alice on Mikan, it was time for the last member, Hajime. He didn`t waste any time as insects started crawling out from under the gazebo, and from the forest. They were all targeted towards Mikan. Hundreds and thousands of insects may have been aiming for Mikan, making her panic.

"I hate insects!" She screeched, not able to hide her fear. "Stop!" She used her pheromone on Hajime but nothing happened. He had an anti-pheromone potion, making him unaffected by her alice. As the insects continued to crawl, she took a step back and was already against the wall. Mikan tried to use her telekinesis to try and make them fly away but they just came back.

Natsume was concerned for her. "Isn`t this too much?" He asked as he started to create fire on his hand. Persona restrained him from doing anything to help Mikan.

"This is for her own good." Persona lied.

Mikan had no other choice. As insects crawled towards her, she concentrated on them. After a second, they were frozen solid as stones. Insects were still coming towards her but she immediately decreased their number by making all of them stones. This earned a smile from Persona. He had made her show another alice, an alice he was suspicious that she had after their game of Alice Dodgeball. Thus, he put a hand on Hajime`s shoulder, making him stop. Finally, the insects went back to their hiding places and left Mikan alone.

Natsume ran towards a panting and teary-eyed Mikan. She was shaking and gasping for air after using her alice in panic mode.

"Stone Alice." Persona said with a proud voice. "You continue to impress me, Iwa Sakuya."

Persona had given Mikan a name for her to be called which meant a rock that blooms. This was due to her Stone Alice and her flower name, Mikan.

As Natsume heard Mikan being named by Persona, he knew right away that Persona would use her like he was doing with him. He clenched his fists and wanted to punch Persona so badly.

After orienting Mikan of her newly given duties as a dangerous ability student, the class was dismissed and given the day off.

"Rest." Persona told them before they went out. "Especially you, Iwa Sakuya, you will have a tiring day tomorrow."

Mikan sighed and just nodded. She had already accepted her fate. It was bound for her since she had this alice. She was careless enough to let herself be trapped. She should have been more cautious of her actions.

As Mikan was walking back to the dorms, Natsume caught up with her. When she heard him coming, she looked back and a smile went to her face. Seeing her friends would always cheer her up, no matter how horrible her life was.

"Mind if I walk with you?" Natsume asked as he got to her side.

"No, not at all." Mikan shook her head, making her look adorable to Natsume`s eyes.

As they silently walked, Natsume had the urge to hold Mikan`s hand. He gulped and sneaked a look at Mikan. She looked serene and was just staring in front. He took a breath and slowly held Mikan`s hand. He checked to see what her reaction would be. And to his delight, Mikan squeezed his hand and didn`t let go.

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><p><strong>Hihi. ;;) I hope ya`ll liked this. :) I promise to update soon since I`m lazy to do school work this weekend. Please do not copy my procrastinating.<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I`m back with another chapter! :) Sorry if this took long. Stress with school. Gah. I promise to make it up with another chapter. :D Hope you like this one. :-bd**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p><em>As they silently walked, Natsume had the urge to hold Mikan`s hand. He gulped and sneaked a look at Mikan. She looked serene and was just staring in front. He took a breath and slowly held Mikan`s hand. He checked to see what her reaction would be. And to his delight, Mikan squeezed his hand and didn`t let go.<em>

Chapter Thirteen.

As Mikan and Natsume walked back to the dorms, Natsume decided to make some small talk.

"Why are you agreeing to be used by Persona?" He asked her, straight to the point. He stopped walking in order to look at her directly.

Mikan shrugged and contemplated on whether to tell him or not. _Maybe he would understand._ "You might find it a little shallow but… I don`t want my friends to get hurt. They`re the only family I have left. I have no idea what happened to my real family."

As Natsume heard her explanation, his grip on her hand tightened. Mikan looked at him and smiled. Before they began to walk again, Mikan mouthed him 'Thank you.' which made Natsume grin.

When they were near the entrance of the Middle School Division dorms, Natsume let go of her hand. She looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Got a reputation to keep?" Mikan accused him.

"Can you read minds too?" He tried his best to control his mind but the more he tried, more thoughts came to his head. He looked crazy in Mikan`s eyes.

"No." Mikan said, making him let out a sigh of relief. "You`re just predictable." She turned her back and walked away from a silent and ashamed Natsume.

~.~

A grumpy Mikan reached her room and to her surprise, Narumi was waiting for her outside her room. As she entered, there was a robot trying to fix and pack all of her stuff.

"What is this, sensei?" She asked the blonde man.

He smiled at her. "You`re star ranking went up." Narumi fished something from his pocket and gave it to Mikan. As she opened her palm to see what it was, Narumi spoke. "Congratulations on being promoted to special star."

Mikan`s eyes sparkled as she saw a golden star inside a golden circle. It was a different star from that of a single star`s. She took off the single star and handed it over to Narumi.

"I`m allowed not to display the star, right?" Mikan asked her teacher sincerely.

"Yes, you can do that." He nodded. "But I don`t understand why you want to hide it from others."

She let out a weak smile. "I just don`t want to draw more attention on me. Being moved to the Dangerous Ability class has been enough."

Narumi`s eyes showed understanding. "Why did you get transferred anyway?"

_I guess I can trust sensei. He`s the very first person who I became close with._ "I lied about my alices, sensei." She said and sank down in her bed. Narumi sat beside her and patted her shoulder.

"That`s how life is to be, Mikan-chan." He comforted her. "What you do with it, it`s your choice. Whether you would let it consume you completely or if you would take this as a positive, a challenge. If you look at this situation as something negative, you will always be put down."

Mikan looked at Narumi and nodded. Her mood seems to have been lifted up. Both of them got up and followed the robot to Mikan`s new room. She was directed to a gigantic room. It was three times the size of her previous room and had a queen-sized bed in the middle. It was kind of empty except for the study table, closet, an empty bookshelf, and door to the washroom.

She stepped inside and went around the room. "Hm. Spacey." She was referring to the lack of furniture.

Narumi chuckled. "Ah, yes. You would have to buy all the other furniture. This is everything the school would originally give you. You can also display different awards, pictures, and trophies."

"Buy my own furniture with my allowance?" Mikan`s eyes widened as she counted in her fingers how much she already has. Her previous allowance was just twenty rabbits per month. How will she be able to buy furniture with that?

Narumi may have noticed the way Mikan was panicking so he displayed in his hands three hundred rabbits. "You`re allowance also went up. You`ll now get three hundred rabbits per month."

She was left open-mouthed. Narumi walked out of her room to give her some time to take it all in. Mikan took another look at her room and lay on the bed. She sighed. Despite all of these perks she gets, she was still nervous about all the new changes to come in her way.

~.~

When the weekend came, Mikan made sure to buy things for her room. She brought Hotaru with her and they enjoyed a whole day of shopping for clothes and furniture. Mikan was able to buy sofas, mirrors, and different ways of entertainment. As Hotaru bid goodbye to Mikan, Mikan went to her room. Before she entered, she felt a different aura from the place. It had a dark vibe. Slowly, Mikan opened the doorknob and much to her surprise, Persona was there to welcome her.

"Did you have a fun day, Iwa Sakuya?"

"Y-yes." She stuttered.

"Good." Persona said, not even sounding concerned. "Now, follow me."

Mikan did as she was told. Silently, she walked behind the tall man with her head down. After minutes of walking, they arrived the Elementary School Division. When Mikan saw this, her heart stopped. There was nobody other than the Elementary School Principal to visit here.

She was lead to a huge receiving room. It had a high ceiling, gigantic windows, and an office table in front of the window. It was the principal`s office. Despite the light vibe the room gives off, Mikan can`t help but feel scared. Every time she was reminded of anything ESP, she was scared to death.

Persona entered the room together with Mikan`s worst nightmare.

"Hello there, Mikan Sakura." The principal said with an amused voice. With hearing his voice, she felt surges of electricity through her body. It was a mix of fear and anger.

"Hello, sir." She mananged to say. The ESP sat behind his table, across her. He still had that amused look on her face.

He nodded and spoke in a well-mannered way. "Persona tells me you have the ability to turn objects into stone. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Impressive!" The ESP is delighted to have such a powerful student in his hands. "Now, let me explain to you why you have been brought here."

Mikan braced herself for what was to come.

"You see, the Dangerous Ability class is handled by no other than me." The ESP stated. "The school has sponsors that support the financial needs of the school. Giving allowance, maintaining all the facilities, and everything else are thanks to our sponsors. It is also a duty of ours to keep these sponsors safe. By providing them protection and the feeling of power from Alices, they would donate more. Do you understand?"

"So you mean, you`re making us use our alices for their good?"

"Exactly. There are more complicated missions than that, for those opposing the school, too." He said. "Since you are now a part of the DA class, you are obliged to do these missions."

"I see." Mikan said.

"Now, let me ask you. Have you ever used your stone alice on people?" Mikan shook her head to say no. "Then, have you ever stolen an alice?"

"No." ESP looked down for a second then lit up afterwards.

"You shall practice."

_Practice on people? No!_ She thought to herself. Mikan would not want to hurt anybody. But did she have any other choice?

~.~

Mikan was given a mask that looked perfect for a masquerade ball. It was black and covered half of her face, until the nose. It had linings of gold and some black and white feathers on top. Persona said it was a controlling mask. Just like what Natsume has. If she disobeys any rule, a flow of electricity would be felt.

Her mask served two purposes. One was to prevent her from escaping during missions. The second was to hide her identity from the public.

Mikan was accompanied by Persona to the outside of the school. Persona briefed her on what was going to happen.

"The Dangerous Ability class was able to capture hostages during previous missions. These hostages are from the Z organization which opposes Alice Academy." Mikan was somehow familiar with the organization though she doesn`t know why. "These are the hostages that you will use your alice on. Do not show any mercy."

"I don`t wat to hurt anybody." Mikan said behind her mask.

"You just have to." Persona said while she felt pain afflicted by that cursed mask.

~.~

Currently, Mikan is faced with the said hostages. They looked oppressed and weak.

"Have they been tortured?" Mikan quietly asked Persona.

"Yes." He shamelessly said. "They don`t want to speak nor join our forces. I want you to end their misery."

With a snap from Persona, some men brought out one of the hostages.

"Steal his alice first." He demanded. "It has been reported that he has the mind-erasing alice. It may come into use."

It took her a long time to move so Persona got impatient. Another flow of electricity hurt Mikan making her grip her head. She sighed and went towards the man.

As she was in close distance to him, the hostage reached out to touch her.

"Don`t! He`s going to erase your memory!" The guard from a while ago cautioned.

Mikan looked at him and smiled. "He can`t erase my memory." She looked at the shock man who could not believe his alice failed him. "I`m sorry." Mikan whispered as she gripped his arm and concentrated. She hasn`t done it before but Mikan let thoughts of creating an alice stone come to her mind. After some time, there was an alice stone in her hand.

"I`m sorry." She repeated then walked towards Persona.

"Nice job, Iwa Sakuya." He said, taking the alice from her hands. "Now, turn him into stone."

"I can`t." Mikan cried out. "I don`t want to rob him of anything else."

"Weak." Persona insulted her then walked towards the man. He touched him and after seconds, black marks were spreading throughout the man`s body. He was screaming for help. "You just made his death more miserable. My mark of death will slowly eat him up."

Mikan looked away and tried to cover her ears. The sight of the suffering man made her teary-eyed. She couldn`t stand seeing a poor man getting hurt. After a minute, the screaming stopped, he was dead.

"Now, let`s try the next one, shall we?" Persona snapped once again. "You wouldn`t want this girl to experience the same as what the first hostage experienced, would you?"

Out came a woman in her 20`s. She looked very tired and weak. Mikan really didn`t want her to suffer any more.

"Do it now." Persona ordered. Mikan concentrated on the woman. Slowly, her feet turned into stone. The process was slow but at least it didn`t hurt. They would only feel numb then they won`t feel anything at all. Mikan tried not to look at her victim`s eyes. But when she glanced, she saw the pain in her eyes.

Pain that triggered flashes of memories again.

Just like the previous sudden attack during the fair, images of guns and people went to her mind. There was also a man speaking to her. All the images led to a sudden blackout.

She was awakened by a high scream. When Mikan opened her eyes, she saw the woman covered with the scars from Persona`s alice.

"You need more practice and become less merciful." Persona concluded. Mikan really was. She didn`t want hurgting anybody. How will she go through this crisis? Will Natsume really be there for her?

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><p><strong>Hope you liked this. :) Sorry if the chapter`s just short and not many NatsumeXMikan moments. Reviews are greatly appreciated. What do you think of the story so far? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Any suggestions?<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Lol, I told you I`ll make up for the previous short chapter. This is a relatively short chapter in itself but uploading it next to the previous would sort of make it almost of the same. Short chapter + Short Chapter = Long Chapter, right? :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p>"<em>You need more practice and become less merciful." Persona concluded. Mikan really was. She didn`t want hurgting anybody. How will she go through this crisis? Will Natsume really be there for her?<em>

Chapter Fourteen.

After a month of being moved to the Dangerous Ability class, Mikan had already been sent to six missions. She learned to become oblivious to feeling bad for others and had a cold heart. She had to admit, she was dead tired. Even though in her missions, she would always be accompanied by either Natsume or Nobara, she did most of the hard parts. Mikan became Persona`s newest and best weapon.

Mikan woke up with a sore body. Another mission was just finished the previous night and it involved a lot of running. Her alarm was her only saving grace of getting her to class on time.

"Ugh. Noisy clock." Mikan sighed as she searched her side table for the alarm clock. While trying to stop the clock, her hand was able to touch the feathery mask given to her. Finally, she was able to shut her clock up and sit up straight.

She took a look around her room which she grew accustomed to. It really became a room of a special star. Another sigh came out of her mouth and she finally stood up to get ready for class. While fixing herself, she tried to think of what was to come today in class. Mikan was much safer in class nowadays. Nobody dared to challenge her, especially Sumire. That girl just shut up whenever Mikan came in the room.

Mikan took one last look at herself in her humongous mirror and picked up her bag. Much to her surprise, Natsume was leaning beside her door, waiting for her.

"Gah." Mikan said, stepping back. "You surprised me, Natsume."

Natsume just scoffed at her reaction. Being in one class, they became weirdly close. They often teased each other and had each others` back.

"What are you doing here? We don`t have a mission." Mikan said while starting to walk. _I have no intentions on being late._

He quickly followed her. "Is it bad to fetch you?"

"Actually, it is." Mikan said, still continuing to walk. "I`m not a little kid, you know."

"Okay, okay." He said. "I`m sorry."

Behind Mikan`s façade, she smiled whenever she thinks Natsume really is there for her.

~.~

"Are you two together?" Hotaru asked Mikan, without a hint of shyness.

Natsume and Mikan arrived the classroom together, with smiles on their faces. By the looks of it, they really did look together. Unfortunately, Mikan really had no idea of what was happening around her and what image she portrays to others by hanging out with Natsume all the time.

With hearing Hotaru`s question, Natsume just placed his hands in his pockets and looked at Mikan for the answer. He tried to look innocent. Mikan blushed as she saw what he was trying to do.

After a second, reality dawned to her and she realized what Hotaru was _actually_ asking.

"Oh God, no!" Mikan said, almost screamed. "No, no, no, no, no."

"Defensive much?" Hotaru said with a mischievous smile. She was certainly getting into something.

"Hotaru, why are you doubting me?"

"You are too readable, baka."

"I am so not." Natsume was amused at hearing how Mikan denied so hard. If this were a normal circumstance, there won`t be too many 'no's involved. "He isn`t even expressing any intentions."

_Aha!_ Natsume`s attention was grabbed. _So, she isn`t that naïve. Mikan really has the idea of what's happening around her._

Hotaru walked towards Natsume, looking out the window. Hotaru cleared her throat thus making Natsume look at her.

"I didn`t know you were one of the shy types."

Natsume had a look full of daggers. He fought the urge to deny it all he wants. But he tried to conceal himself. Besides, actions speak louder than words.

~.~

When the bell rang for lunch, Natsume rushed out of the classroom to look for a certain blonde teacher. Though it may be against his will, he just had to do it.

Before he could completely be out of sight, Ruka was able to catch a glimpse of him.

"Natsume, where are you going?" Ruka asked, concerned. He was pretty sure Natsume won`t ditch class anymore. Ever since Mikan became his friend, he didn`t skip class as much as he did before.

"Narumi." He said quietly, actually quite ashamed to think he`s looking for his dreaded teacher.

Ruka raised his eyebrow. "Seriously? Natsume, you don`t have to lie about anything."

"Ruka, why would I lie about even seeing Narumi? You know how much I hate that guy."

"Then why?" Natsume sighed. He was losing time and decided to drag Ruka with him.

~.~

In the faculty area, Narumi was sitting behind his desk, trying to fix his lesson after lunch. There weren`t any special occasions for the school in the future, so students weren`t in a busting mood to study anyway.

"Narumi." Serina called out to him. She was staring at her crystal ball.

He looked up to the blonde teacher. "What is it?"

"There are some students outside the room, wanting to speak to you."

Narumi stood up and walked to the door, when he opened it, he was totally not expecting to see who was right in front of him. Before him, stood Natsume and Ruka in their glorious gorgeousness.

Narumi looked puzzled, of course. These two were the last people on Earth that Narumi would think of coming to him. Before he could even ask, Natsume decided to break this awkward tension.

"I know this is all weird but I would like to ask for a favor."

Narumi`s mouth opened wider. "You need my help?"

Natsume nodded, Ruka was staring at his best friend. He never expected this either. _What has gotten into him?_ The raven-haired boy started to explain what he wanted, making the situation clearer to both Ruka and Narumi. Finally, they understood his intentions. These intentions also made them excited and amazed at how Natsume was planning things. Who would have ever thought?

"Okay. I will certainly be of help." Narumi said with a wink that made Natsume roll his eyes.

"I still don`t like you as a teacher." Natsume boldly stated.

~.~

The bell rang. It was time for homeroom, their last class of the day. As Narumi entered the class, everybody settled down. Mikan went to her usual seat, beside Hotaru, and listened to whatever their lesson was.

Boredom overcame Mikan. Her thoughts wandered towards the recurring images that always flashed her mind. She tried her best to make connection out of all the images.

Were those images a part of her forgotten memory? She tried to remember all the different memories since the first time the images attacked her mind. The images she remembered were guns, fire, high-classed rooms, and surrounding people. Her head would always hurt whenever she remembered the images and tried to connect them.

_How about a chronological order?_ With paper and a pen, Mikan wrote the fragments of memories.

_Fire._

_Guns._

_Rooms._

_People._

_What could be their connection?_ Mikan thought to herself and tried to create arrows and came up with a final list.

She may have been brought to a special room and then became the center of attention of a lot of people. These people may be trying to protect her using guns. Then her memory may have been lost because of fire.

Fire.

Once she had the thought of flames, her head twitched towards the raven-haired, crimson-colored eyes boy that was sitting at the backmost part of the room. She truly fought the urge to look at him. With practicing with Persona, she learned self-control and so she was able to do so.

_Oh crap._ Now that she finally had Natsume in her mind, she couldn`t take him out of his mind. _Breathe in. Breathe out._ Mikan thought to herself.

Mikan tried to distract herself with other thoughts besides you-know-who. Thinking about the flashes of image, makes her sleepy. She bowed her head on the table and closed her eyes.

Once again, in her dreams, she was haunted by those images. When will she even remember what really happened? Mikan was awakened by the feeling of falling. Hotaru felt her twitch and poked Mikan with her pen.

"What`s wrong with you?" Hotaru asked her best friend.

"Nothing." She said with a quiet voice. Mikan didn`t want to bother Narumi`s class. "By the way, what did he talk about? Seems like I just missed half of the class sleeping."

"You didn`t miss anything big." She told her. "He`s just talking about adolescence bla."

Mikan tried her best to listen for the rest of the class. Finally, Narumi`s homeroom class ended. But before Narumi went out of the room, he silenced the class. The students became quiet, anticipating what he could say. It wasn`t really Narumi`s personality to have some ending statements.

"Sakura." He said. The whole class stared at Mikan.

_Uh-oh._ Mikan thought to herself. _Have I been caught sleeping?_

"Come here." Narumi told her. Mikan slowly stood up her seat and walked towards the board where Narumi was.

"Yes, sensei?"

Out of nowhere, Narumi`s serious attitude vanished and was replaced by a happy teacher once again. He had a smile on his face, unlike Mikan does. She had a completely confused look. She raised her eyebrow and looked at her teacher closely.

"Somebody wants to tell you something." He said, still with a smile.

_Wait, somebody?_ "It isn`t you?"

Narumi shook his head. He motioned towards the people behind the classroom. Then, the class` eyes were diverted towards the back part of the classroom now. Natsume stood up first, followed by his entourage, Ruka, Koko, Mochiage, Koko, and Kitsu. The men walked towards Mikan with something behind Natsume`s hand.

The entourage stopped while Natsume continued his swaggering walk towards Mikan. He stopped right in front of her.

The whole class was gazing towards the two. They were excited for what was actually happening. It was like a movie being played right in front of their eyes. Hotaru had her camera ready and snapping.

It was evident that Natsume tried his best to still act cool and collected. His hand messed with his hair then went to his pocket.

It took years for Natsume to move so Ruka decided to offer some help. He patted his best friends back and whispered. "You can do this."

Natsume nodded and took another step towards Mikan. He offered to her a red rose. When the class saw this, they all exclaimed and 'awww'ed.

He cleared his throat, looking shy and nervous which made Mikan smile. "Mikan Sakura, will you give me the privilege to court you?"

"Aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwww." Another set of shouts and hoots came from the classroom.

Mikan scoffed. "When have you ever turned cheesy, Hyuuga?"

Natsume smiled and shrugged. "I don`t know, ever since I met you?.."

She giggled at his response and tried to hide her excitement. "Why do you want to court me?" She asked, trying to test Natsume.

"Simple." He smiled his million-dollar smile. "Because someday, I want you to be mine."

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><p><strong>I know it may be a short chapter but it`s one of the most NxM moments that are so sweet. Hope you liked it. :) Reviews are <span>greatly<span> appreciated.**

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello, dearies! :) Sorry for the late update. But I hope you like this one! :D `nuff said.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p>"<em>Simple." He smiled his million-dollar smile. "Because someday, I want you to be mine."<em>

Chapter Fifteen.

Natsume still had the rose in his hands being offered to Mikan. To tell the truth, Mikan was touched with what he just said. But she fought the blush threatening to show itself to the whole class.

Mikan smirked as a n evil plan came to her mind. _A little torture wouldn`t hurt, would it? Besides, that`s a way to test if he really is serious about me._ She decided to stay silent for a while. For how long? She doesn`t know. Little by little, Mikan gets to notice Natsume`s body language. He was getting impatient but was trying to hide it. The proud façade he had was getting a bit shaky.

Mikan giggled a little which made Natsume raise an eyebrow. She just shook her head and took the rose, at last. With her taking it, the class erupted into cheers for Natsume. He finally got to breath normally. Everybody in the class was congratulating him, except for Sumire. She was bitter as ever.

Once the class was dismissed, the whole class still couldn`t stop talking about the whole Natsume and Mikan moment. They were the talk of the whole class. Slowly, it spread throughout the whole junior division, then the whole school.

All everybody could talk about was them. The infamous Natsume Hyuuga was now courting the new principal student, Mikan Sakura. Wow did it spread fast like a forest fire.

~.~

"I can`t believe you`re allowing that boy to court you." Hotaru told Mikan as they were walking back to their dorms. They took a quick stop to the food store first. It was always Mikan`s treat.

"Why not?" Mikan looked up from her food.

"Why not? Are you serious?" She rolled her eyes at the brunette. "I mean, don`t you have better things to do than become all lovey dovey with him?"

She laughed. "Oh come on Hotaru, there`re other things in this world aside from food and money."

Hotaru sighed. Mikan was all puppy dog eyes at her. "Fine, fine. You have my blessing!"

"Thank youuu!" She jumped up and down while trying to hug Hotaru. Hotaru readied her baka gun and pointed at Mikan. She was about to shoot when they both heard some girls talking.

"Is that her?" The first girl told her friend. She wasn`t trying to keep quiet or anything.

"Yeah, that girl who`s being all slutty at Natsume-kun." The other answered back.

_Slutty?_ Mikan thought to herself, hurt. _Who the heck`s becoming all slutty?_

She was about to pull Hotaru out of the place. "Hota—" Mikan looked around to see her best friend storming towards the two girls.

"Excuse me, but are you talking about Mikan?" She asked politely.

"What is it to you?" The girl with blonde hair said. She was taller than Hotaru and was towering her but Hotaru didn`t show any sign of fear.

"Well, I would just like for you to shut up and mind your own business." Hotaru told them sternly and walked out. She pulled the stunned Mikan with her too.

When they were far away from the two girls, Hotaru decided to check up on Mikan. She didn`t say anything but it was obvious she was deep in thought.

"What`s on your mind?" Hotaru asked her.

"Nothing."

"Oh come on, spill it."

Mikan sighed. "I mean, it hasn`t even been a day, but people already think badly of me."

Hotaru patted her back. "Don`t worry about those haters. They`re just jealous."

"Yeah, I guess so." Mikan tried to pull her spirits up. "Hey, how about Central Town?" She decided to just distract herself. She was good at that.

~.~

When they were finished with their shopping, Mikan was holding up tons of paper bags. She bought clothes and even some items that had alices used on them.

Her main objective to go to Central Town wasn`t too successful. As she was coming back to her room, thoughts of what the girls said still rang in her head. Mikan reached her door, and as she opened it, all the remaining worries faded.

On her bed, there was a bouquet of red roses.

"What is it with Natsume and roses?" Mikan rolled her eyes. "I guess he`s never done this before so he sticks with cliché, cheesy stuff."

Mikan picked up the bouquet and saw a note attached.

_Mikan,_

_This may all seem new to me and you so I apologize if you don`t like anything I do. But I`ll do my best to make you mine._

_Yours,_

_Natsume_

She smiled at his note. He had a nice handwriting. It wasn`t neat but it wasn`t so chaotic either. Mikan took a vase from her cabinet and placed the flowers there. All she did was to look at the flowers and imagine what was to come.

That night, she wasn`t bothered with any nightmares. Instead, she dreamt of Natsume and that heart-melting smile that was for her only.

~.~

The following day, while Mikan was fixing her stuff for the day, she heard a knock on her door.

"Aish, who could that be? It`s so early!"

When she opened the door, there was nobody in front of her. Instead, there was another rose. Mikan picked it up and saw another note written in Natsume`s handwriting.

_Have a great day today._

Small things like that made Mikan smile. She wasn`t the type of girl that liked big stuff and made moments where everybody had to know. She was more of the person that noticed small stuff.

Mikan had a happy mood when she entered the room. She didn`t notice the absence of Natsume until it was time for class to start. She looked around and asked Hotaru, "Where`s Natsume?"

Hotaru raised her shoulders to say she didn`t know. Mikan sank a little but didn`t let that ruin her day.

During lunch time, while Mikan and Hotaru were eating, somebody snuck up behind Mikan.

"Hello, beautiful." Natsume whispered in her ear, making Mikan have goosebumps. Upon hearing his voice, Mikan smiled.

"Natsume."

"Love it when you call my name." He said nearing his head towards Mikan. She stopped her head with her hand.

"Not too close." She stuck out her tongue at him. "Where were you today?"

"Ah, concerned about me, huh?" He smirked.

"Don`t get too cocky over there, Hyuuga." She told him.

Natsume smiled and took the empty seat beside Mikan. Upon seconds, his food was in front of him. He was chewing his food for quite a while that Mikan thought he forgot all about her.

"Did you like the roses?" Natsume spoke, startling Mikan. She was about to stand up when words came out of his mouth.

"Yes." She admitted bashfully. "But I don`t get it."

"Get what?" He looked up and looked straight into her eyes, making her blush.

"Of all the flowers, you go with the most common one that guys give to girls." Mikan told him. "A rose is like so cliché."

"So, you`re not as naïve as I thought you would be." Natsume quietly said. "There`s a reason behind it, you know."

"Tell me." She said, almost demanded.

"It sort of represents me." He said.

"Why?" Mikan raised an eyebrow. "Because it`s red? Well, that`s naïve, too."

Natsume`s mouth twitched a bit to smile. "No, you naïve girl. There`s something deeper than that. Like a rose, it may seem so harmless when you look at it first. Sort of like me. If people see me, they would think I`m all that and I`m the guy to be with. But also, like a rose, there`s a danger that may come from me. For the rose, it`s their thorns. While if anybody becomes close to me, they may end up getting hurt or in danger. You probably know that already, since you know all about the missions they send us to. But you accepted that side of me. Just like you took the roses. And for that, I`m grateful." He said, taking her hand.

Mikan was dumbfounded with his explanation, but it cleared everything up. "Of course I accept you. You`re the one that saved me. I should be the grateful one."

He smiled at her. The smile that was for her eyes alone. She was the reason behind Natsume`s smile. He kissed her knuckles, making her smile, too.

"I love you, Mikan." Natsume told her. It was the first time Natsume has ever admitted his feelings towards anybody. He wanted it to be special, and surely, it was.

~.~

For the next weeks, Mikan would always receive a rose from Natsume. Now knowing what those roses mean made them all the more special to her. She filled the vase with the roses and its aroma filled her room.

Natsume was always there to accompany her. If Hotaru was unavailable, he would make sure that Mikan won`t go alone. They were getting to know one another more by each passing day.

One night, Natsume decided to visit Mikan`s room. She was up late reading a book she bought from Central Town when Natsume knocked on her door.

"What are you doing here? It`s late." She told him. It was almost near curfew.

"Nothing. I just wanted to visit." He said with a cool voice. Natsume wasn`t worried about getting caught. "May I come in?"

Mikan nodded and led him in her room. She closed the door behind him and went towards her bed. She sat there while Natsume took a seat on the floor, beside her.

"So, you keep all the roses." He said, breaking the silence that filled the room.

"Hm? Oh, yeah." Mikan said. "They look gorgeous."

"Not as much as you are." Natsume said, taking advantage of the moment. Mikan giggled and hit him in the head.

"Cheesy Natsume." She said laughing.

They end up talking about themselves again. They asked each other of their interests and all that.

"Seriously, why do you like me?" Mikan asked him, while eating chocolates. She had a stash of food in her room, which she and Hotaru shared during studying time.

"Love."

"Huh?" Mikan looked up.

"I don`t like you, I love you." Natsume grinned which just made Mikan roll her eyes.

"Fine," She said. "Then why do you _love_ me?"

"It could be a long list you know."

"Seriously?" Mikan asked and Natsume nodded. "Then give me the top three."

For some time, he looked like he was deep in thought. "One, you`re beautiful. Two, you`re a strong person and not a very frail one that gives up easily. And lastly, you make me feel happy despite my dark life."

"Dark life?" He nodded. He probably meant his secret missions for the academy. "If you don`t like it, why do you still do it?"

Natsume deliberated if it was good to tell her. "Hm. My sister."

"You have a sister?" Mikan was shocked, she dropped her bar of chocolate. Natsume laughed at her clumsiness and picked it up and gave it back to her.

"Yes, I have a sister. Her name`s Aoi."

_Aoi. Such a nice name._ She thought to herself. "What about Aoi?"

"Well, me and my sister have the same alice. The alice of fire. When we were younger, she kind of lost control. Let`s just say she still didn`t know how to control her fire and end up burning our village. Nobody got hurt but their houses and livelihood were gone because of the fire. Alice Academy knew about this and blamed all of it on my sister, since she really was the one responsible. They were going to trap her in this school, ordering her around as a consequence but I said no. I gave myself instead of her. I didn`t want her to experience all of this."

"So you took the liberty of taking her consequence?" Natsume nodded. "Good thing they didn`t take her after all this. Isn`t it if you`re an alice, you`re bound to come here?"

"Yes, that`s true. But Aoi`s alice ended after her childhood. She had the alice type that was only during the first years of life."

"Why do you still do the missions? If Aoi doesn`t have an alice anymore, they couldn`t take her."

"I know that." Natsume clenched his fists. "But they hid my family from me. Since they know how useful I am for them, they don`t want me to escape. So they threatened that if I don`t do the missions, they would hurt my family."

It all made sense to Mikan now. Natsume grew silent so Mikan decided to sit beside him on the floor. She patted his shoulder to cheer him up.

"Okay, let`s talk about you know." Natsume said, trying to stray away from the topic. "I wonder what you still can`t recall."

"I know right." She said shaking her head. "It`s frustrating to try remembering what is past."

"Don`t worry. Remember, I`m here for you." He said, looking straight through her eyes. For a moment, Mikan thought they were about to kiss when their housekeeper`s voice rang throughout the whole dorm.

"Lights out everybody! Any student that will be seen in the corridors will have major consequences."

"Oh crap!" Natsume cursed.

Mikan stood up and cast a barrier around her room. This would make the lights invisible to the outside of the room.

"How will you go out?" Mikan asked. "I totally forgot about the time!"

Natsume had an idea and so he smiled. His smile reached his ears which freaked Mikan.

"What are you thinking?" She asked.

"I`ll just have to stay here for the night." He said. Seems Natsume didn`t turn as innocent as Mikan would like.

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><p><strong>Ahe. ;) What do you think would happen? :O Lol. Sorry for Natsume being kind of OOC. It kind of fit the situation. :D Reviews are greatly appreciated.<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello! Gah! I know, I know. I haven't updated in a seriously looooooooooooong time now. :( I APOLOGIZE! I am so sorry for not updating. I just had a writer's block and it was partnered with a lot of stress from school. I hope you still don't give up on my story. :( I tried my best to write it for all of you, and I'm pretty sure you're going to like my redemption. ;;)**

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DOWNRIGHT LEMON ON THE END OF IT. If you do not wish to read it, I suggest you just skip the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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><p>"<em>What are you thinking?" She asked.<em>

"_I`ll just have to stay here for the night." He said. Seems Natsume didn`t turn as innocent as Mikan would like._

Chapter Sixteen

_Mikan's POV_

After what seemed like hours of debating, I seem to be getting tired of it. This argument just goes in circles. With a sigh, I tried the best I could one last time.

"You always sneak out, why not now?" I persuaded. It's true, though. Natsume's quite the sneaker. He usually goes against curfew and stuff like that. I don't know why he has to stay here, at my room, this time.

Natsume rolled his eyes and slumped down on my bed. "I`m tired."

"What a pathetic little excuse, Hyuuga."

"I know." He was smirking. That devil was smirking! Ugh, it seems he wouldn't allow himself to lose. I wasted my breath trying to convince him. I should've known better.

"Fine," I concluded. "But you'll be sleeping on the floor."

"No way."

Stubborn guy. "Yes."

"No."

"I said yes!" I desperately told him. Is he going to be like this the entire night? If he will, I`m going to throw him out myself. "Get off my bed."

"No." There goes his smirk again. I rushed to my bed and tried to pull him off but darn, he's heavy. "Oh come on. Just let me sleep beside you."

My eyes were getting tired of all this rolling. Instead, I just loosened my grip on him and decided to walk away. "Were you always this annoying?"

"Yes." He said with a calm voice.

That forced a little laugh from me. So straightforward. Oh well, I guess I`ll just have to live with Natsume sleeping beside me tonight… Damn. That sounds so wrong, as if it's a trap just bound to happen.

While fixing myself in front of my mirror, I sneaked some glances at Natsume who was staring at the ceiling. He looked so peaceful, without any fury in his eyes. The combing of my hair stopped as I focused more on his facial features. Gosh, I never realized how handsome he really was. Don't get me wrong, I know he's quite a good-looking lad but that was just an understatement as I look at him now. His crimson eyes that would burn right through you, making your skin feel so hot. That perfectly shaped nose. And those lips. Oh how kissable they looked.

What the heck Mikan? Why are you thinking of kissing him? Are you crazy? Bad thoughts, bad thoughts, bad thoughts. Slapping myself mentally now.

I gazed at his reflection on the mirror again. Wait, is it just me, or is he looking straight at me now? I narrowed my eyes to see his blazing eyes reflecting the way I was looking at him. He gave out a chuckle.

"Something funny?" I turned around to look at him.

"You look weird." Scowling at him, I turned my back and continued brushing my hair, trying my best not to look at him again. "Hey, don't be mad. You just had that discombobulated look on your face. You looked adorable."

I bowed my head a bit. There was a blush creeping up on my face right now, I could feel the heat on my cheeks. And I wouldn't want him chuckling again, would I?

"Mikan." He called my name in a soft voice.

"Hm?" I raised my head a bit.

"You've been combing your hair for a long time now." He said carefully, as if I could break any moment. "You already look beautiful."

That earned a little smile from me as I got up and walked towards the bed. I hovered above my side for a bit and carefully calculated what was happening. Natsume was just casually sprawled on the right side of my king-sized bed, while I was to take the opposite end. He didn't really have any excuse to "accidentally" brush against me. But I wanted him to…

Slap! Mentally slapping again. What is wrong with me tonight? Of all nights that I could think of things like this, it would be the night when he decides to sleep here. Talk about timing.

"You're blushing." He said, getting up and leaning on his elbow. "Mind telling me what's on your mind?"

"Oh nothing." I sat down on the edge of the bed. "It's just some random stuff you wouldn't want to know."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh but I do. Tell me."

"No." I said as I stuck a tongue out.

"Keep that tongue of yours before I bite it." He said, a little seductively. This earned him a pillow on his face, thrown by yours truly.

"Pervert." He deserved that.

"I was just kidding, Mikan." Ugh, the way he says my name makes me want to melt. No, no, no. Shake those thoughts away from you. I took my pillow back from him and leaned against the headboard. Probably a book would keep my thoughts away from these stuff.

As I was reaching out to get my book, Natsume seemed to notice it. "Will you seriously read a book while I'm here?"

"Yes, why?"

"Aren't you supposed to be some sort of host trying to entertain?" He announced with that smirk again.

I shook my head. "Well, Natsume, as we both know, I wasn't even planning on having a guest over tonight. So that clears off all the hospitality problem a bit." I answered and got back to reading my book.

He just sighed, but didn't go back to his previous state, staring at the ceiling. Instead, he continued looking at my direction. He was just… Looking. I turned my head to look at what he was staring at too, but found nothing of interest.

"What are you looking at?" I finally asked him.

"You."

"How come?"

"Because I want to."

"Why do you want to?"

Natsume smiled, not that smirk, thankfully. "Because you're beautiful."

I just had to roll my eyes. It seemed to have confused Natsume with my reaction. "Will you ever tire of telling me that? You won't get me to say yes by just complimenting my appearance, you know."

"Yes, I know." He was sort of undecided whether to continue or not. "But, I just really feel lucky to be with you, here."

I smiled, and he smiled back. We were staring at each others eyes. His crimson with my brown. I seem to feel like heaven, as if it was the perfect place for me, in his eyes. He looks like he feels just the same.

"I love you."

He said it with such emotion, with such intensity and passion. I couldn't help but blush and smile even more. He loved me, he didn't really like to announce it often, but he did make me feel the love. He was more of a man of actions, not a man of words. That statement just made me look back at all the courting he's been doing. How he made me smile, how he makes me blush all the time, and even the pathetic and cheesy stunts he does just to get my attention. Oh how I love it. It may just have made me fall for him. Hard.

"I love you too." I whispered. My eyes grew large when it came to my mouth. I suddenly clutched my mouth closed. Did I just say that aloud? Did I just really tell him I love him too? Darn this mouth for betraying me!

I didn't realize I had closed my eyes until I started to worry. There was nothing from Natsume, not a single reply. Slowly, I opened one eye to peep at him, and when it seemed safe, I opened both eyes. He was looking at me quite intently. He had a sincere look on him, he was neither mad, nor happy, I guess.

Awkward…

It seemed like hours. I thought he was just going to suddenly sleep and forget about it when I heard him speak. He startled me with his voice, and what he said had me get goosebumps.

"Prove it."

I was feeling it. My instincts were slowly taking control of my mind. As if I don't have control on the things I do anymore. I was slowly inching closer towards Natsume, who was looking me with such intensity. He didn't blink nor look away when our foreheads touched. He knew something was coming.

I closed my eyes and slowly raised my lips to his. After a moment, our lips touched. His lips were soft, unexpectedly. It was just the same feeling as I thought it would be moments ago, when I was staring at his face. It sent shivers through my spine, the kiss. Our kiss lingered for a bit until I backed away a few inches, though our foreheads were still connected.

A smile slowly grew on his face. He was beginning to grin like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. When he finally spoke, his voice was a bit hoarse. "What was that for?"

My face reflected his as my lips curved into a smile, too. "You told me to prove it."

His eyes were staring at me again, as if I was some kind of juicy prey to him now. It wasn't just a look of sincerity, but it had a mix of predator to it. I noticed his eyes moved from my eyes, to my lips, and back again. I bit my lip, unknowingly.

It was his turn to move forward now, he was closing the gap between our lips. The moment our lips touched for the second time that night, it had a sense of urgency and need. I don't want to think about it, but I knew, deep down, that there was just one thing that explained the kiss.

Lust.

His kiss turned persuasive, as he slowly urged me to open my lips to him. His tongue licked my bottom lip, begging for entrance. I gladly gave it to him. He explored my mouth and I met his tongue with my own. They fought for dominance. Natsume grabbed the back of my neck with one hand, while the other would its way towards my waist. I gripped his hair with my fingers. Gosh, this feeling was so good. The way he was holding me made me moan into his mouth, which made him even turned on.

When we both gasped for air, his mouth never left my skin, as I tried my best to get my breath back, I felt his mouth caressing my cheek and went to the area under my ear. Wow, this felt great. My fingers were gripping his hair even more tightly as he nibbled on the sensitive area he had just discovered. I couldn't take it anymore. I just had to have his lips against mine again. I pulled him up and kissed him full on the mouth, moaning as I felt his lips.

After a breath-taking kiss, we broke apart, catching our breaths for the second time that night. We were still holding onto each other as we stared once again at the eyes of the other.

"I love you." We said simultaneously, as if he was reading my mind. That earned a smile from both of us.

He embraced me tight and I rested my head on his chest. And at that moment, I knew I belonged here. Right in his arms.

We both fell asleep, in the arms of the person we were sure we loved.

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><p><strong>sooo? Lol, I told you there was lemon. But I tried to keep it to the rating I posted this story at. Was it okay?... It's sort of my first time writing something like that though. I hope you review it. Reviews are the reason I still continue this.<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Soo, hi. =))) Sorry for the late upload. :) I don't have internet so yeah. :) Hope you enjoy this.**

_He embraced me tight and I rested my head on his chest. And at that moment, I knew I belonged here. Right in his arms._

_We both fell asleep, in the arms of the person we were sure we loved._

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><p><span>Chapter Seventeen<span>

Natsume did not want to open his eyes. He was afraid of waking up from his glorious dream. He dreamt that he spent the night with his true love and slept under her embrace. He was scared that if he opened his eyes, everything would go away.

Poof.

Something stirred in his arms. _Strange._ Natsume thought to himself._ Everything should be still this time of the morning._

Slowly, Natsume opened one of his eyes to see that he was in a room, quite similar to his own. It had the same size, but not really the same furniture. And the thing that was unlike that of his room, was a sleeping brunette with her arms wrapped around his. He had his arms on her waist, holding her as if she would slip away in an instant.

He smiled. _So it wasn't a dream._ He really did spend the night in Mikan's room. They really did kiss. Not just a kiss, they made out.

While remembering everything about the previous night, Mikan moved again. Natsume focused his eyes on her and watched as a pair of brown eyes stared at him. A look of shock was seen at first, and it sluggishly turned into delight.

"Good morning, beautiful." The man greeted as he lowered his lips to hers. It was a gentle, soft kiss that made both of them smile. Both had their eyes closed to savor the moment.

When they broke apart, they stared into each others' eyes.

A distant bell rang from outside Mikan's room. This seemed to have awaked Mikan more. "What time is it?" She asked as she suddenly sat up, causing blood rush fill her head. Mikan held her head and tried to ease the rush.

Natsume noticed what she felt from her face and did the same with her head. "Time for us to show ourselves to the public, that is."

She chuckled. Mikan didn't want to go just yet. She wanted to just lie in her bed, with Natsume just beside her, with a look of so much love. She shook her head, signaling that she didn't want to get up. Natsume sat up beside her and wrapped his arms around hers.

"Don't worry, we`ll have all night later to spend with each other."

That simple sentence made Mikan get up and hurry to go.

~.~

The two were just in time for breakfast. There wasn't a single person left in the cafeteria as they both ate side-by-side. Natsume kept sneaking glances at Mikan which made her conscious, therefore not finishing her food. From her peripheral vision, she could see his stare that looked like a cheetah, focused on a little gazelle.

When they rushed to their classroom, they walked hand-in-hand. Both were wary of their surroundings.

"If anybody gets near, let go." Mikan dangerously stated. Natsume just smirked. "What are you smiling about?"

A scoff. "Oh nothing, what's so wrong about holding your hand? After what our steamy make-out session last night, this seems like such a minor thing, doesn't it?"

"I`m trying to keep my reputation here." She proudly announced.

"Trying hard to get, huh?" Natsume let go of her hand. Mikan was reluctant at allowing him to do so, but did anyway. She didn't want to seem too attached and desperate.

"Yes, yes I am." She snickered.

They reached the front of their classroom and looked at each other. "Well, this is goodbye. For now." Natsume told her as he placed his normal look of composed special star, once again. That was the look Mikan did not see the whole night they were together. It warmed her heart.

~.~

In class, the two didn't really talk to each other. Both did what they usually do with friends, not really acknowledging the presence of the other.

"So, how are things with Mikan?" Ruka suddenly asked Natsume when he caught the raven-haired boy staring at no other than the girl in question.

"Huh?" Natsume looked to his side. He had his arms behind his head, reclining on his chair as if the teacher wasn't in front of them.

"I asked you. How are you and Mikan?" He questioned his best friend again, nodding his head slightly in her direction to make a point.

"Mhm. Fine." He answered, a smile creeping up his mouth. Natsume recalled what had just happened and can't wait for it to occur again.

"Oh really? You haven't spoken about where you were last night." Ruka turned into a nagging friend so sudden. "Were you in a mission again?"

_A mission to catch her heart. _He thought to himself as his smile grew bigger. Ruka looked at him with a repelled look on his face. His best friend was turning crazy.

_Something smells fishy around here._ The blonde weighed the different situations.

Once the class was over, the students gathered together and talked about the most boring class they may just have had. Two of them thought otherwise, as their minds were diverted to something else.

Hotaru noticed the same thing as Ruka did. Natsume kept snatching glances at Mikan while she did the same. She wanted to do some hardcore investigating. But a simple question might just do.

"So, are you two together?"

Everybody's eyes turned to Hotaru and then went to the two in question, almost immediately. They were both contemplating on what they say.

"No." They said in unison.

In the corner of his eye, Natsume saw Koko about to open his mouth. _If you ever tell them, you're dead._ Natsume shouted in his mind, hoping the mind reader would catch on. Almost instantaneously, his mouth closed. He just kept his thought to himself, then.

Their next class was Math. The teacher was busy scribbling some complex equations on the board as the students furiously wrote on their notebooks, trying to keep up. Mikan excused herself to the washroom and went out.

She couldn't focus on anything. Mikan was too caught up with the events of last night, as if it were haunting her. Well, she didn't really call it haunting because she liked the memory. She wanted to relive it again. But it was keeping her from studying. Mikan looked at herself in the mirror of the washroom. She was blushing fifty shades of red. Hoping that with a little water, she washed her face and sighed as the cold water hit her warm cheeks. It didn't really help, though.

When Mikan gave up all the hopes of clearing her face of any evidence of the previous night, she got out and walked back to the classroom. Surprisingly, there was a guy leaning against the wall a bit away from the room she was about to go to. He was staring at his shoes, as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. For now.

When he heard somebody walk towards him, he looked up. The moment he saw who it was, a smile lit up his face. Now Mikan was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Hi." Natsume greeted her, as if they hadn't seen each other in the classroom just minutes ago.

"What are you doing here?" She had a questioning look.

He stepped close to her. "Not really the greeting I wanted." Natsume held her waist and pulled her close to him. The moment she was hauled to him, he crushed her lips with his. His kiss was demanding and hurried. His lips pleaded her to open for him. He nibbled her bottom lip which made her moan and open her lips.

Once their tongues touched, both moaned in each others' mouth. Her hand messed up his hair and his hands slowly traveled their way down her waist. When Natsume's hands went down even more, Mikan broke the kiss and sighed. Mikan gripped his hands and pulled it up.

"Come on, let's get back to class." She smiled and pulled him to the room.

Their entrance to the classroom caught the attention of the whole class. _Oh wait, we aren't supposed to be together._ Mikan thought to herself and slowly made her way to her seat. She had her head down and tried to hide her blush.

When Natsume went back to his seat, Koko was the only one staring at him. The rest of his friends went back to listening to the teacher, or pretending that is. The mind reader had a smirk. He knew exactly what happened.

~.~

It was time for Dangerous Ability class.

This time, the couple was walking together, seeing as nobody would really be around since they had their own classes to think of. Natsume's right arm snaked around Mikan's waist and pulled her close to him while continuing to walk towards their class. She didn't complain, which made Natsume smile with content.

"You seem very happy nowadays." It wasn't a question. Mikan really did notice his mood lighten up since the very first days she knew him.

"And it's all thanks to you." He gazed at her.

She didn't try to hide her blush any more, this time. They stopped walking as Natsume grazed his thumb on her cheek. He stole a quick smack and went back to walking. This left Mikan at a daze, and blushed even more.

When they reached the gazebo of their class, the other students were already there. They seemed oblivious to the two, as if they were so used to their public display of affection by now.

"About time, don't you think?" Rui turned to Hayate. They were the only ones left looking at them, while the others went back to their normal business.

Hayate stood up from his seat and went to greet Mikan and Natsume. "Well if it isn't the two lovebirds. Enjoyed your honeymoon?" He snickered as he teased the two.

He was laughing until he smelled something burning. When he felt the heat above his head did he realize his hair was on fire. The rest of the class turned to him and laughed at the scene before him. Natsume, with his arm still around Mikan, was secretly laughing too. That was, until he started coughing. Badly.

"Natsume?" Mikan turned to him when she felt the man weaken and cough continuously. "Are you okay?"

He wasn't able to answer as was still coughing. Not long enough, blood started coming out. This worried Mikan, and at the same time scared her. Natsume fell on his knees as his coughing didn't stop.

"Natsume!"

She was leaning toward him, with her arms on his back, trying to make his coughing stop. After what seemed like hours, he gained composure of himself and brushed of what just happened.

"I`m fine." He said, trying to stand up with Mikan's support.

"No, you're not fine! Come on, I'll take you to the hospital."

She was about to bring him outside when the exit was blocked by none other than Persona. The man Mikan was dreading to see, since she was sure he would prevent him from going anywhere besides where his mission is.

"Excuse us." Mikan announced when she was in front of their teacher.

"I`m afraid you cannot take the black cat out." He was talking in an authoritative tone, which made Mikan have Goosebumps. Natsume stiffened as he heard the sentence.

She wasn't one to give up. Looking straight into his eyes, she uttered, "Well, _sir, _Natsume isn't in the right condition to have a lesson today. Now, if you'll just allow me to take him to the hospital and have him healed."

"I will repeat myself. You cannot take him out."

"It's just a lesson, _sir._" Mikan tried to keep her composure.

"No, it's not a lesson today for both of you." Persona's voice raised a bit. "You have a mission."

Mikan sighed and gave up. There was no way she nor Natsume can get out of this.

"Kuro no kami and Iwa Sakuya, infiltrate and destroy the Z."

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><p><strong>Reviews are greatly appreciated. ;)<strong>

**xoxo,**

**Terence**


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